Why are cutting tools mostly made of metals?
Answers
Answer:
This is one of the major reasons why cutting tools are made of strong metals that can withstand heavy temperatures. The cutting tools need to be harder than the material on the work piece; they need to be strong enough to withstand high temperatures during the cutting process.
Answer:
When you cut a stick of butter with a bread knife, you are using the same scientific principle as a high speed ceramic insert doing a finish cut on a hardened shaft where the chip comes off white hot, then cools to cobalt blue as it drops to the chip tray. The harder the thing you want to cut, the more your cutting tool has to be even harder. As the edge of the tool contacts the material, said material is forced to flow around the cutting edge at the molecular level, and the amount that is unable to do so is forced away from the parent material in a chip as it exceeds the ultimate strength of the material.
Try cutting that stick of butter with a plastic knife, the side of a fork, or your finger. You see that the effort required to make the cut goes up or down with the shape of the cutter and its material, and the finish left behind in the parent material is also directly related. If you try to cut that butter with a feather, you will fail. With the hardest of steels, you will have to go all the way up to exotic ceramics to finish the cut. :-{)}