The classes of tool materials for machining operations are high-speed tool steels, carbides, cermets, ceramics, polycrystalline cubic boron nitrides, and polycrystalline diamonds. This article discusses the expanding role of surface engineering in increasing the manufacturing productivity of carbide, cermet, and ceramic cutting tool materials used in machining operations. The useful life of cutting tools may be limited by a variety of wear processes, such as crater wear, flank wear or abrasive wear, builtup edge, depth-of-cut notching, and thermal cracks. The article provides information on the applicable methods for surface engineering of cutting tools, namely, chemical vapor deposited (CVD) coatings, physical vapor deposited coatings, plasma-assisted CVD coatings, diamond coatings, and ion implantation.

Shearing is a process of cutting flat product with blades, rotary cutters, or with the aid of a blanking or punching die. This article commences with a description of some wear and material factors for tools used to shear flat product, principally sheet. Methods of wear control are reviewed in terms of tool materials, coatings and surface treatments, and lubrication. The article discusses tool steels that are used for cold and hot shearing, and rotary slitting. It provides information on the materials used for two main categories of machine knives: circular knives and straight knife cutters. The article also discusses the selection of materials for blanking and piercing dies and provides examples that illustrate the various types of tooling changes for blanking high-carbon steel.