Inventory of Experimental Works on Cutting Tools’ Life for the Wood Industry

Abstract

Woodworking is based on a trinomial machine/piece/tool. For maximum quality of the manufactured piece, it is important not to separate this trinomial, but the limited life of tools prevents that permanent contact. This phenomenon is due to the wear of the cutting parts of the tools. The prevention of wear is based on two methods. The first is to anticipate the end point of tool wear, changing these after a fixed period, no matter what. The other school is to recognize the tool wear at the event: the tools are changed once they are really worn out, finding faults on manufactured parts. A worn tool generates pieces with non-compliant quality or even unusable. A deeper understanding of wear and its consequences would change the tool at the right time. The tool wear for wood is due to several phenomena interacting with each other. The first dominating phenomenon is a corrosive attack that decreases the mechanical strength of the surface. The second is an abrasive attack whose work is facilitated by the reduced resistance of the surface. Repeated shocks can be in the degradation of the cutting edge, temperature acting as amplifier to wear. Understanding of the wear patterns can characterize the life of tools by wear measurement to find ways to extend this period with development of tool coatings, while maintaining optimal conditions for woodworking to get the best finish.