This article describes the selection of tool steels on the basis of specific product applications. It contains tables that list nominal speeds and feeds for the machining of various tool steels. The machining processes include turning, boring, broaching, drilling, reaming, tapping, milling, and sawing. The article explains the machining of the following tool steels: water hardening; types A, D and O cold-work; hot work; high speed, low-alloy special-purpose; and low-carbon mold. It details the machining of tool steel gears. The article also discusses the grinding of tool steels based on steel classification and the effects of steel composition and hardness on grindability. It reviews the types of grinding, namely, surface grinding, cylindrical grinding, centerless grinding, internal grinding, thread grinding, flute grinding, and low-stress grinding. Grinding of types-A, D, F, L, O, P, S and W steels, hot-work steels, and high speed steels, is also detailed.

This article discusses various machining techniques of zinc alloy die castings. These include turning, boring, drilling, reaming, tapping, die threading, milling, and sawing. In addition, the article describes the factors that influence machinability of the zinc alloy die castings.

Reaming is a machining operation in which a rotary tool takes a light cut to improve the accuracy of the round hole and reduce the roughness of the hole surface. This article describes its process capabilities and provides information on workpiece material and hardness, as well as the machines used. Reamer materials and design, speed and feed, bushings and fixtures, and cutting fluids used are also discussed. The article outlines the factors to be considered while selecting a reamer. It also discusses the applications of the principle types of reamers, namely, straight-flute chucking, spiral-flute chucking, adjustable, end-cutting, shell, floating-blade, gun, and special-purpose reamers, with examples.

Tapping is a machining process for producing internal threads. This article provides a discussion on machines and accessories of tapping. It reviews the seven categories of taps, namely, solid, shell, sectional, expansion, inserted-chaser, adjustable, and collapsible taps, as well as their design and functions. It explains the influences of various factors on the selection of tap design features and discusses the principal factors that influence the selection of equipment and procedure for tapping. The article reviews the factors that determine torque demand. It also provides an overview of tap materials and surface treatment and concludes with a discussion on tapping of taper pipe threads.

Magnesium is machined in low-volume production on small, manually operated machine tools and on large, specially built, completely automated transfer machines operating at high production rates. This article focuses on the factors that affect the machining of magnesium. It discusses chip formation and distortion due to thermal expansion, cold work, and clamping and provides information on magnesium-matrix composites. The article describes materials, design, and sharpness as factors for selection of tool for machining magnesium. It illustrates turning and boring, planing and shaping, broaching, drilling, reaming, counterboring, milling, sawing, and grinding operations performed on magnesium. Safety measures related to machining, handling of chips and fines, and fire extinguishing are also discussed.

This article focuses on machines that are designed, constructed, and used for drilling. It provides information on the design, materials, selection, and classification of drill. The article describes drills that are specially designed for hard steel and other specific applications. A variety of drill point styles, such as single-angle points and reduced-rake points, are described. The article discusses the factors considered to obtain expected dimensional accuracy of holes. It explains the determination of the optimum speed and feed for drilling, which depends on the workpiece material, tool material, depth of hole, design of drill, rigidity of setup, tolerance, and cutting fluid. The article illustrates the effects of operating variables on drill life of hardened steel. The advantages, limitations, design considerations, insert configurations, and applications of indexable-insert drills are discussed. The article concludes with a discussion on the requirements to drill small holes that differ from those used in conventional drilling.

This article begins with a discussion on the classification of aluminum alloys and the selection of alloy and temper based on machinability. It provides an overview of cutting force and power, tool design and material, and general machining conditions. In addition, the article discusses distortion and dimensional variation and machining problems during the machining of high-silicon aluminum alloy. It also provides information on tool design and material, speed and feed, and the cutting fluid used for various machining processes, namely, turning, boring, planing and shaping, broaching, reaming, tapping, milling, sawing, grinding, honing, and lapping. The article concludes with a discussion on drilling operations in automatic bar and chucking machines and drill presses.

Superabrasives collectively refer to the diamond and cubic boron nitride (CBN) abrasives used in grinding applications. This article discusses the classification of superabrasive wheels according to a variety of sizes and shapes, construction, concentration, and bond systems. It provides information on the applications of the superabrasive wheels depending on the factors of the grinding system. These factors include machine tool variables, work material, wheel selection, and operational factors. The article describes the methods available for superabrasive wheel truing in production grinding operations, namely, stationary tool, powered, and form truings. It reviews the truing methods, such as truing with abrasive wheels and hard ceramics, for batch production. The article explains practical methods available for dressing CBN wheels, namely, abrasive stick, abrasive-jet, slurry, and high-pressure waterjet dressing. It concludes with information on the conditioning process of the CBN wheel.

This article focuses on the machining of reactive metals which refer collectively to the elements titanium, hafnium, and zirconium. It provides guidelines for machining titanium and titanium alloys and describes machining operations, such as turning, milling, drilling, tapping, reaming, grinding, and sawing, performed on titanium and its alloys. The article also provides information on electrochemical machining (ECM), chemical milling (CHM), and laser beam machining (LBM) for titanium and titanium alloys. Guidelines for machining zirconium alloys and hafnium are also provided. The article provides a short description of turning, milling, and drilling operations performed on zirconium alloys and hafnium. It also discusses health and safety considerations related to zirconium and hafnium.

The horsepower requirements to cut various metal alloys provide an indication of the relative ease and cost of machining, but several other important factors include cutting tool material, chip formation, cutting fluids, cutting tool wear, surface roughness, and surface integrity. This article reviews these general machining factors as well as specific cutting tool and cutting parameters for the six basic chip-forming processes of turning, shaping, milling, drilling, sawing, and broaching. Best practices for each of the six chip-forming processes are suggested for optimized machining of aluminum alloys. The article lists the inherent disadvantages of machining processes that involve compression/shear chip formation. It discusses the machining of aluminum metal-matrix composites and nontraditional machining of aluminum, such as abrasive jet, waterjet, electrodischarge, plasma arc, electrochemical, and chemical machining.

This article describes various machining techniques of refractory metals, namely, niobium, molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten. These include turning, boring, trepanning, reaming, milling, tapping, drilling, and sawing. Parameters for the machining of the refractory metals are also tabulated. In addition, the article provides information on cutting fluids and tools that are used in machining of the refractory metals as well as on the safety precautions to be followed in the machining process.

The machinability of stainless steels varies from low to very high, depending on the final choice of the alloy. This article discusses general material and machining characteristics of stainless steel. It briefly describes the classes of stainless steel, such as ferritic, martensitic, austenitic, duplex, and precipitation-hardenable alloys. The article examines the role of additives, such as sulfur, selenium, tellurium, lead, bismuth, and certain oxides, in improving machining performance. It provides ways to minimize difficulties involved in the traditional machining of stainless steels. The article describes turning, drilling, tapping, milling, broaching, reaming, and grinding operations on stainless steel. It concludes with information on some of the nontraditional machining techniques, including abrasive jet machining, abrasive waterjet machining electrochemical machining, electron beam machining, and plasma arc machining.

Nickel-base alloys can be machined by techniques that are used for iron-base alloys. This article discusses the effects of distortion and microstructure on the machinability of nickel alloys. It tabulates the classification of nickel alloys based on machining characteristics. The article describes the machining operations performed on nickel alloys, such as turning, planing and shaping, broaching, reaming, drilling, tapping and threading, milling, sawing, and grinding. It provides information on the cutting fluids used in the machining of nickel alloys. The article also analyzes nontraditional machining methods that are suitable for shaping high-temperature, high-strength nickel alloys. These include electrochemical machining, electron beam machining, and laser beam machining.