New tribological strategies for cutting tools following nature

The material concept of animal teeth for cutting viscoelastic and abrasive food is completely different to those existing for industrial cutting tools. Biological cutting systems use abrasive wear in order to form sharp cutting edges. This work gives an overview of biological principles and describes a biomimetic approach for designing industrial cutting tools. The developed tools based on nature inspired hierarchic structure and shape show outstanding mechanical properties and provide evidence that self-sharpening effects and high abrasive resistance must not be contradicting.