Selection of Carbide to machine the work-part, followings must be considered.

The selection of the best grade of carbide for a particular application is very important. Generally, the harder carbides are more wear-resistant and more brittle, whereas the softer carbides are less wear-resistant but tougher. A choice of hardness must be made to suit the given application. The very hard carbides are generally used for taking light finishing cuts. For other applications, select the carbide that has the highest hardness with sufficient strength to prevent chipping or breaking. Straight tungsten carbide grades should always be used unless cratering is encountered. Straight tungsten carbides are used to machine gray cast iron, ferritic malleable iron, austenitic stainless steel, high-temperature alloys, copper, brass, bronze, aluminum alloys, zinc alloy die castings, and plastics. Crater-resistant carbides should be used to machine plain carbon steel, alloy steel, tool steel, pearlitic malleable iron, nodular iron, other highly alloyed cast irons, ferritic stainless steel, martensitic stainless steel, and certain high-temperature alloys. Titanium carbides are recommended for taking high-speed finishing and semi-finishing cuts on steel, especially the low-carbon, low-alloy steels, which are less abrasive and have a strong tendency to form a crater. They are also used to take light cuts on alloy cast iron and onsome high-nickel alloys. Nonferrous materials, such as some aluminum alloys and brass that are essentially nonabrasive may also be machined with titanium carbides.

Abrasive materials and others that should not be machined with titanium carbides include gray cast iron, titanium alloys, cobalt-base and nickel-base super-alloys, stainless steel, bronze, many aluminum alloys, fiberglass, plastics, and graphite. The feed used should not exceed about 0.020 inch per revolution.

Coated/Laminated carbides can be used to take cuts ranging from light finishing to heavy roughing on most materials that can be cut with these carbides. The coated carbides are recommended for machining all free-machining steels, all plain carbon and alloy steels, tool steels, martensitic and ferritic stainless steels, precipitation-hardening stainless steels, alloy cast iron, pearlitic and martensitic malleable iron, and nodular iron. They are also recommended for taking light finishing and roughing cuts on austenitic stainless steels

Coated carbides should not be used to machine nickel-base and cobalt-base super-alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, brass, bronze, aluminum alloys, pure metals, refractory metals, and nonmetals such as fiberglass, graphite, and plastics.

Diamonds: These are the hardest of all cutting materials with low thermal expansion and good conductivity. They are twice as good as carbides under compression. A good finish can be obtained with non-ferrous metals and final polishing can be eliminated. Diamonds are particularly good for cutting aluminum and magnesium alloys, copper, brass and zinc. They have a long life. These are available in three forms: single-crystal natural diamonds shaped to a cutting edge and mounted on a tool holder on a boring bar; polycrystalline diamond indexable inserts made from synthetic or natural diamond powders that have been compacted and sintered into a solid mass and chemically vapor-deposited diamond. Single-crystal and polycrystalline diamond cutting tools are very wear-resistant, and are recommended for machining abrasive materials that cause other cutting tool materials to wear rapidly. Typical of the abrasive materials machined with single-crystal and polycrystalline diamond tools and cutting speeds used are the following: fiberglass, 300 to 1000 fpm; fused silica, 900 to 950 fpm; reinforced melamine plastics, 350 to 1000 fpm; reinforced phenolic plastics, 350 to 1000 fpm; thermosetting plastics, 300 to 2000 fpm; Teflon, 600 fpm; nylon, 200 to 300 fpm; mica, 300 to 1000 fpm; graphite, 200 to 2000 fpm; babbitt bearing metal, 700 fpm; and aluminum-silicon alloys, 1000 to 2000 fpm. Another important application of diamond cutting tools is to produce fine surface finishes on soft nonferrous-metals that are difficult to finish by other methods. Surface finishes of 1 to 2 microinches can be readily obtained with single-crystal diamond tools, and finishes down to 10 microinches can be obtained with polycrystalline diamond tools. In addition to babbitt and the aluminum-silicon alloys, other metals finished with diamond tools include: soft aluminum, 1000 to 2000 fpm; all wrought and cast aluminum alloys, 600 to 1500 fpm; copper, 1000 fpm; brass, 500 to 1000 fpm; bronze, 300 to 600 fpm; oilite bearing metal, 500 fpm; silver, gold, and platinum, 300 to 2500 fpm; and zinc, 1000 fpm. Ferrous alloys, such as cast iron and steel, should not be machined with diamond cutting tools because the high cutting temperatures generated will cause the diamond to transform into carbon

Ceramics:These are made from finely powdered aluminum oxide particles sintered into a hard dense structure without a binder material. Aluminum oxide is also combined with titanium carbide to form a composite, which is called a cermet. These materials have a very high hot hardness enabling very high cutting speeds to be used. For example, ceramic cutting tools have been used to cut AISI 1040 steel at a cutting speed of 18,000 fpm with a satisfactory tool life. However, much lower cutting speeds, in the range of 1000 to 4000 fpm and lower, are more common because of limitations placed by the machine tool, cutters, and chucks. Although most applications of ceramic and cermet cutting tool materials are for turning, they have also been used successfully for milling. Ceramics and cermets are relatively brittle and a special cutting edge preparation is required to prevent chipping or edge breakage. This preparation consists of honing or grinding a narrow flat land, 0.002 to 0.006 inch wide, on the cutting edge that is made about 30 degrees with respect to the tool face. For some heavy-duty applications, a wider land is used. The setup should be as rigid as possible and the feed rate should not normally exceed 0.020 inch, although 0.030 inch has been used successfully. Ceramics and cermets are recommended for roughing and finishing operations on all cast irons, plain carbon and alloy steels, and stainless steels. Materials up to a hardness of 60 Rockwell C Scale can be cut with ceramic and cermet cutting tools. These tools should not be used to machine aluminum and aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, titanium, and titanium alloys. Some of the ceramic types as follow;

Oxide Ceramics:Alumina cutting tips have extreme hardness (more than HV 2000 or HRA 94)and give excellent service in their limited but important range of uses such as the machining of chilled iron rolls and brake drums. A substantial family of alumina-based materials has been developed, and fine-grained alumina-based composites now have sufficient strength for milling cast iron at speeds up to 2500 ft/min (800 m/min). Resistance to cratering when machining steel is exceptional.

Oxide/Carbide Ceramics:A second important class of alumina-based cutting ceramics combines aluminum oxide or alumina-zirconia with a refractory carbide or carbides, nearly always 30 per cent TiC. The compound is black and normally is hot pressed or hot isostatically pressed (HIPed). The physical and mechanical properties of this material are generally similar to those of the pure alumina ceramics, but strength and shock resistance are generally higher, being comparable with those of higher-toughness simple alumina-zirconia grades. Current commercial grades are even more complex, combining alumina, zirconia, and titanium carbide with the further addition of titanium nitride.

Silicon Nitride Base: One of the most effective ceramic cutting-tool materials developed in the UK is Syalon (from SiAlON or silicon-aluminum-oxynitride) though it incorporates a substantial amount of yttria for efficient liquid-phase sintering). The material combines high strength with hot hardness, shock resistance, and other vital properties. Syalon cutting inserts are made by Kennametal and Sandvik and sold as Kyon 2000 and CC680, respectively. The brown Kyon 200 is suitable for machining high-nickel alloys and cast iron, but a later development, Kyon 3000 has good potential for machining cast iron. Resistance to thermal stress and thermal shock of Kyon 2000 are comparable to those of sintered carbides. Toughness is substantially less than that of carbides, but roughly twice that of oxide-based cutting-tool materials at temperatures up to 850 ℃. Syon 200 can cut at high edge temperatures and is harder than carbide and some other ceramics at over 700 ℃, although softer than most at room temperature.