Cutting-tool materials

AbstractThe term 'cutting tool' can be applied to almost any instrument employed to divide, sever, or penetrate any solid body, provided the instrument has an edge. This category includes the razor blade, the tailor's scissors, and the bread knife, as well as the twist drill, the milling cutter, and the saw. The present review will be confined to the materials for tools in the engineering industry. Even in this restricted field a great number of tools of very different sizes and shapes is employed to carry out many different operations on almost all the materials of construction used by the engineer. Engineering tools include single-edge lathe tools for turning, boring, facing, planing, and parting off; twist drills and reamers for shaping holes; milling cutters and routing cutters for producing plane surfaces and slots; hobbing cutters for generating gear teeth; broaching tools; form tools; saws; and many others.