The effect of tool wear on tool life of alumina-based ceramic cutting tools while machining hardened martensitic stainless steel

Tool life is an important parameter in evaluating the performance of the cutting tools. Tool wear affects dimensions and surface quality of the workpiece and it is also one of the important criteria in determining tool life. When the tool reaches the tool wear criterion, the cutting edge fails and cannot be used further. Machining studies have been conducted on hardened martensitic stainless steel (HRC 60) to analyse the effect of tool wear on tool life of alumina ceramic cutting tools. The tool wear such as flank wear, crater wear and notch wear are noted. These wear data are used to develop mathematical tool wear models using multiple regression analysis (MRA). Tool life of the alumina-based ceramic cutting tools is evaluated from these tool wear models and the effect of various types of wear on tool life is analysed while machining hardened martensitic stainless steel.