Before the advent of carbide tungsten steel milling cutters and high-speed cutting methods, continuous chips generated during metal cutting did not cause serious problems. Because at low speeds, the chips usually curl naturally and tend to break. However, the cutting speed has now increased to the extent that the chips must be controlled. In turning operations where metal is removed continuously for a long period of time, the resulting continuous chips may wrap around components of tungsten steel milling cutters, workpieces or machine tools. If not controlled, this form of swarf can harm the operator and lead to chipping. When coolant is used, this kind of chip will hinder the injection of coolant, make the blade cold when hot, and generate thermal stress, thus reducing the durability of cemented carbide tungsten steel cutter.
The processing of a large number of continuous chips has become a more important economic issue. The index of chip treatment can be expressed by the volume ratio, ie, the ratio of the total volume occupied by the chips to the metal volume of the cutting layer. The volume ratio of the continuous chips is about 50; the volume ratio of the wound chips is about 15; and the volume ratio of the chips with good broken is only about 3. Therefore, the volume of broken chips is about 1/17 of that of continuous chips. This provides great convenience for the processing and removal of chips. The dangers and difficulties caused by long chips compel us to study and develop various ways of controlling the chips so that the chips become small chips or fragments.