Tool Life

Tool life is defined as the time period between two successive grinding of tool and two successive replacement of tool. Tool life is a most important factor in the evaluation of machinability, it is the period of time in which the tool cuts effectively and efficiently.

A cutting tool should have long tool life. The cost of grinding and replacement is very high, so the short tool life will be uneconomical. Now a day’s tool material improvement increases the tool life. When a tool no longer performs the desired function then it is said that tool reaches end of useful life.

Factors affecting tool life

The tool life will be affected by various factors, which are mentioned below :

• Tool material and its properties
• Properties of Workpiece material - Tensile strength, hardness, and microstructure of a material; Degree of heat treatment of the material.
• Finish required on the product.
• Tool geometry - profile of cutting tool
• Machining conditions like temperature, the cutting fluid used.
• Machining variables - Feed, cutting speed, and depth of cut.
• Types of machining operation- continuous and intermittent cutting.