Efficient and precise cutting of zirconia ceramics using heated cutting tool

The thermally assisted machining of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal using a cutting tool heated with induction heating was proposed. Although the conventional thermally assisted machining cannot be applied to drilling, the proposed method can be. Heat transfer from the heated cutting tool to the workpiece was simulated analytically, and the result showed that heating of the tool up to 500 °C produced an increase of 150–400 °C in the workpiece temperature. Cutting experiments demonstrated an improvement in machinability.