Introduction

Since 1980s cutting technology has developed rapidlyin the developed countries . Up to the end of 20 century orthe beginning of 21 century the cutting technology has enteredthe development phase of modern cutting technologyfeaturing the high cutting speed and high performance machining. Looking back to the history of cutting technology，one century has passed since the metal cutting becameone of the machining technologies from the very beginningof 20 century . Since then，cutting technology had beenplaying a significant role for the industrialization and economicdevelopment for western developed countries as afundamental manufacturing technology . At the same timecutting technology in itself also had made a rather greatprogress，but on the whole it had still been in the categoryof traditional cutting technology until the late 60s orearly 70s，which had the basic symbol i . e . the developmentand production of cutting tools basically separatedwith applications and costumers，being a lack of the developmentmechanism of promoting and developing eachother .

After entering the second half of 20 century，thecutting technology has obtained a rapid development andentered the modern cutting technology phase due to thedevelopment of science and technology such as computer，micro electronic and material discipline，which closely relatedto the cutting technology，and the advances of manufacturingand the progress of manufacturing technology .In contrast with traditional cutting technology the moderncutting technology features not only running with the highercutting speed and machining efficiency but also forminga new development mechanism and mode and emergingthe new technical characteristics .

To realize the development mechanism and mode andthe new technical characteristics will speed up the developmentof cutting technology in China .

The development mechanism of modern cutting technology

Within a quite long time since the cutting technologycame into being，there were a wrong conception whichhad been puzzling tool manufacturers and end-users for along time and negatively effecting on promoting the cuttingefficiency and pushing the cutting technology forward . Itwas that，the most of tool end-users thought that payingmore money to buy a good performance tool would causeincreasing the manufacturing cost . Therefore the enduserswere reluctant to pay more money to buy a tool withbetter performance or to set an overlong tool life wheneverthey bought a better tool . These points of view had sloweddown the updating of cutting tools in workshop and negativelyeffected on the enhancing of machining productivity，the progressing of cutting technology and the enthusiasmof tool manufacturer to develop new tools .

Now we have a cost model from manufacturing economics，which reveals the close relationship between theusing better tool and the reducing manufacturing cost .The model divided the work - piece machining cost intothree parts：one is tool purchasing fee，another is theshare of general overhead and the last one is machiningexpense including machine tool depreciation charge andthe operator wage etc . The proportions of them are as follows：the tool fee is only about 2 . 5%4% and the shareof general overhead is about 25%，then machining expensecould be as high as 70%(Figure).

These proportions tell us that if we excessively emphasizereducing the tool purchasing fee only resulting in alittle percent of work-piece machining cost reduction forinstance about 1% ～ 2% . On the other hand if using thebetter tool though the tool fee increases，the total machiningcost can obviously reduce due to increasing the cuttingspeed or feed rate，At present a popular view is that increasingcutting speed or feed rate such as 15% ～ 20%can reduce the work - piece cost about 10% ～ 15% . Inaddition the many practice case stories show that thoughthe better tool is more expensive，per work-piece tool feeshare is still reduce because of the increasing of machiningproductivity .

This model and a number of case stories have revealedthat applying advanced cutting technology and toolsmay create considerable benefit for end-users and society .This conclusion has been accepted by more and more bothtool manufacturers and tool end-users and converted thestrong power to push the cutting technology into the moderncutting technology phase within the latest 20 years .

It is the model and the development mechanism tomake the tool manufacturers establish a new business concepti . e .“innovating cutting technology and tool，offeringmachining productivity to customer，’Since then the toolmanufacturer accelerates the development course of newtechnology and tool products playing a most important rolefor progress of cutting technology . On the another handthe tool’s end-user also forms a new idea i . e .“applyingadvanced cutting tool to boost machining productivity andreduce manufacturing cost，”Therefore the manufacturingindustry never has paid so much attention to the advancedtool as it is today and put a unprecedented demand to thenew tools，which has formed the new development mechanismfor cutting technology and converted the traditionalcutting technology into the phase of the modern cuttingtechnology .

The technical characteristics of moderncutting technology

Having developed the new technologies such ashigh speed cutting(HSC)，high performance machining(HPM)，hard machining and dry machining etc . Thesenew technologies have been applied in main manufacturingsectors such as automobile，aircraft，die and mold，andmachinery，not only increasing the machining efficiencybut also benefiting the product updating and technologyinnovation for these industries . Now the aircraft industrycan use the high speed milling technology for machiningaluminum structure part，making the thin-walled monolithicparts enable to replace the assembly of many components，which benefit the aircraft with lighter parts andlower machining cost . The mass-batch automobile industryespecially is a pioneer to develop and apply new machiningtechnology，having developed a series of high-efficienciesnew technology to machining the main parts of powerssystem such as engine block，engine head etc . With respectto the die and mold sector the high speed milling forbig-size mould and hard machining for hardened mouldhave replaced the traditional machining technology in theindustry，reducing the deliver time significantly .

Tool materials and coating technology have madegreat progress，which put a strong base for the emergingof the modern cutting technology and stimulating the practicalapplication of HSC，HPM，hard machining and drymachining . The progress of tool materials feature three aspects：one is that the progress involves all kind of toolmaterials， enhancing the machining efficiency coveringevery sorts of machining operations . Second is that theperformance of PCD and PCBN has been improved obviouslyand introduced more grades for various applicationsand played an important role for HSC feasibility . Third isthat the cemented carbide has became a main tool materialbecause of the development of micro- and super-micrograincarbides and cobalt-enriched coated carbide inserts，which improve the performances and expand the range ofapplications for cemented carbide .

With respect to the progress of coating technology itis one of the most excite things in machining sector in recentyears . In CVD coating the MT-CVD TiCN and thicklayerAl2O3 increase the abilities of both wear resistanceand toughness . The development of PVD coating includesa variety of new coatings，some of them have excellentwear resistance and anti-oxidation with nano- or gradientmicrostructureand another may have the lubricant property. Coating technology has become the most effective wayto enhance the cutting performance with the advantages ofmultifunction，good effect and fast development，having avery bright future .

Both tool materials specially cemented carbide andcoating technology are the core technologies at present，which support the sound development of the modern cuttingtechnology .

The innovation speed of new grades and tools isvery fast，continuously providing the manufacturing sectorwith new technical resource . Now most of well-known toolmanufacturers in world introduce a new innovation concepti . e . according to the concrete machining task through theintegrated optimum of tool material，coating，geometerand structure to develop a most suitable tool . On presentmarket a newly developed coated cemented carbide gradecould usually increase the machining productivity by 20%or even as much as 50% ～ 100% .

The domain of cutting technology has been expanded. After the cutting technology enters the new phasesome necessary auxiliary technologies relating to the moderncutting technology have been developed . Among themare the interface between machine tool spindle and tool，including HSK and new type of 7 : 24 shank，safety andbalance technology for HSC rotating tools，new type oftool clamping systems including heat-shrink holder，hydraulicexpansion holder as well as the tool managementsoftware and the cutting data bank . These technologiesand products keep the same development pace as that ofthe main tool products . One may say that without theseauxiliary technologies there are no HSC，HPM i . e . anymodern cutting technology .

It is the rapid development period of the cuttingtechnology，having showed the large potential energy ofcutting tool for manufacturing industries . China is a countrybeing in the status with relatively backward cutting toolindustry. The domestic tool products can not meet theneeds from the users of NC machine tool and importedproduction lines . To speed up the development of cuttingtechnology and fully use the good-quality technical resourceof cutting tool has the significant meaning for constructionof powerful manufacturing industry of China .