http://www.outokumpu.com/ Some description..... http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5763.aspx Work-hardening means that the hardness increases considerably as the material is deformed, e.g. during the process of producing chips. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00 http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5764.aspx Stainless steels are poor conductors of heat, and the thermal conductivity of all types of stainless steel falls off with increasing alloy, see table below. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00 http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5521.aspx Austenitic stainless steels in particular have very high toughness which means that a considerable amount of energy is required to form each chip. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00 http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5686.aspx This tendency is most marked in austenitic stainless steels, although both ferritic and ferritic-austenitic steels give rise to chip sticking and built-up edges on the cutting tool. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00 http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5765.aspx The high toughness of many stainless steels, and particularly of austenitic steels, means that it is very difficult to break the chips formed during machining. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00 http://www.outokumpu.com/pages/Page____5687.aspx There are some general rules of thumb that can be applied when machining stainless steels, to avoid (to some extent) the problems described, or at least to minimise them. administrator 2003-09-05T10:58:00+02:00