Ceramic face mill with circular arc profile for machining Inconel

A ceramic face mill for machining an Inconel work piece, the face mill configured for rotating about a central rotation axis AR defining opposite axially forward and rearward directions DF, DR, and opposite rotational cutting and succeeding directions DP, DS, the face mill comprising:

• a shank portion;
• and
• a cutting portion extending forward from the shank portion to a cutting end face;
• the cutting portion comprising:
• an effective cutting length LE;
• a diameter DE located at the cutting end face;
• a plurality of teeth;
• and
• a gash located between each pair of adjacent teeth of the plurality of teeth;
• a tooth of the plurality of teeth comprising:
• a rake surface;
• a relief surface;
• and
• a cutting edge formed at an intersection of the rake and relief surfaces;
• the cutting edge comprising:
• an axial sub-edge located at the cutting end face;
• a radial sub-edge located along a periphery of the cutting portion;
• and
• a corner sub-edge extending from the axial sub-edge to the radial sub-edge and defining a corner radius RC;
• wherein the entire face mill:
• is made of a ceramic material;
• and
• has a unitary monolithic construction;
• and
• wherein the entire axial sub-edge has a positive axial rake angle α.