Ceramic cutting tools for dry machining of hardened steels – A review

Ceramic cutting tools are striking alternative for conventional tools for machining hardened steels as these steels exhibit high refractoriness, hot hardness, and good mechanical strength and wear resistance. At the same time, ceramic cuttin g tools can be used for high-speed machining and machined samples with a good surface finish can be obtained even in the absence of coolant which is called as dry machining. As dry machining is becoming increasingly popular these days, keeping in view of the economic, environmental and health problems related to certain coolant materials the present paper reviewed the application of ceramic tools for dry machining of hardened steels.