BK7 glass, with its outstanding mechanical strength and optical performance, plays a crucial role in many cutting-edge technological fields and has become an indispensable and important material. These fields have extremely high requirements for the surface quality of BK7 glass, and any small defects or losses may affect its optical performance and stability. However, as a hard and brittle material, the processing of BK7 glass is extremely challenging, requiring precise control of machining parameters to avoid material fracture or excessive defects. Therefore, how to obtain the required surface quality with lower cost machining techniques has always been the focus of researchers. This article introduces the properties, application background, machining methods, material removal mechanism, and surface and subsurface damage of optical glass BK7 material. Finally, scientific predictions and prospects are made for future development trends and directions for improvement of BK7 glass machining.

Graphite/polymer composites are brittle materials, and tool wear, which has a significant impact on the quality of the machined surface of the material, is very serious during the cutting process. In general, the magnitude of the cutting force directly affects the tool wear; the larger the cutting force, the more severe the tool wear, which in turn affects the machined surface quality of graphite/polymer composites. Therefore, in this study, the effects of machining parameters on cutting forces during orthogonal cutting of graphite/polymer composites were investigated using single-factor and multifactor experiments with cutting speed, cutting thickness, tool rake angle, and rounded edge radius as influencing factors, and the parameters were optimized. The obtained results showed that reducing the cutting thickness and increasing the tool rake angle would significantly reduce the cutting force. During the orthogonal cutting process, when the tool had a small edge radius, the cutting force along the cutting direction was significantly larger than the cutting force along the vertical direction, and as the rounded edge radius increased, the cutting force in the vertical direction exceeded the cutting force in the cutting direction. Finally, the significance of the effect of different machining parameters on the cutting forces was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The obtained results showed that the cutting speed, cutting thickness, tool rake angle, and rounded edge radius were extremely significant for the cutting forces along the cutting direction as well as in the vertical direction during orthogonal cutting of graphite/polymer composites.

Powder metallurgy (PM) is a manufacturing technique that employs metal powder as the raw material, which is then molded and sintered to produce various products. PM green compacts are inherently weak, rendering them prone to damage during machining due to cutting forces, which also affect the quality of the machined surface. To study the impact of different machining variables on cutting force, a finite element simulation (FEM) was employed, focusing on cutting thickness, cutting speed, tool rake angle, and rounded edge radius. The results indicated that cutting thickness had a highly significant impact on cutting force, while the rounded-edge radius and cutting speed were also significant factors. The tool rake angle was found to have minimal effects. The optimal parameters for minimizing cutting force were identified: a cutting thickness of 0.20 mm, a cutting speed of 120 m/min, a tool rake angle of 0°, and a rounded-edge radius of 40 μm, which reduced the cutting force to 887.95 N.

Microtextured cutting tools are widely used because of their excellent performance in cutting difficult-to-machine materials. The cutting performance of cutting tools largely depends on the size parameters of the microtextures used. This study focuses on the machining of titanium alloy Ti-6Al4 V using microgrooved cutting tools under dry-cutting conditions. Special emphasis is placed on exploring cutting performance under specific combinations of microgroove parameters. To determine the optimal parameter combination for cutting, the effects of different microgroove parameters (including the diameter, depth, spacing, and spacing between grooves and cutting edges) on cutting force, tool wear, and chip morphology were investigated. In this study, femtosecond laser technology was used to prepare microgroove-textured cutting tools with different parameters, and the cutting performance of these tools was analyzed. The results show that, when the groove diameter is 80 μm, the depth is 60 μm, the spacing is 80 μm, and the distance between the groove and the tool tip is 120 μm, the cutting performance of the tool is optimal: the cutting force is reduced by 13.9%, the degree of tool wear is minimized, and the degree of chip curling is more uniform. The research results can be applied to the actual processing of Ti-6Al4 V, which can help tool design, selection, and microtexture parameter optimization.