In engineering, there is a wide variety of manufacturing processes exist such as the casting of metals, production of ceramic products, production of composite materials, and so on.
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One of these manufacturing and shaping processes is the material removal process. In this article, you can find hierarchical expression of material removal processes and summary information about them.
Material Removal Processes
Material removal processes are a type of processes in which a cutting edge is used to shape the workpiece(usually metals) via removing material from them. In material removal processes, conventional machining, abrasive processes, and non-traditional machining processes can be identified.
Conventional Machining

In conventional machining, a sharp cutting tool is used to remove material from the surface of the part to obtain desired geometry. Turning, drilling, and milling operations are the most common conventional machining processes that are used in industry. There are tens of different kinds of conventional machining processes apart from these three main processes.
Turning
In turning operations, the cutting tool is fed along the length of turning cylindrical parts to remove material from the workpiece. The workpiece rotates and the cutting tool moves along the workpiece in turning operations.
Milling
In milling operations, both the feeding and rotating motions are performed by a cutting tool. According to the axis count of a milling machine, additional movements may be done by the workpiece.
Drilling
As you know from daily life, drilling is the creating holes on workpieces with drill bits.
Abrasive Processes

In abrasive processes, material removal takes place with the help of hard and small particles. These small and hard particles are applied with a cutting tool constitutes them.
Grinding operations are the most common abrasive processes applied in the industry. In grinding operations, there is a rotating disk that has abrasive and hard particles on them. An operator applies that rotating disk to workpieces to remove material.
Nontraditional Machining Processes
As you understand above, the common application is mechanically removing material from workpieces. In nontraditional machining operations, different types of energies are used.

Electrochemical Machining Processes

In this type of machining process, an electrical charge is used to remove and shape the material.
Thermal Shaping Processes
In these kinds of machining processes, thermal energy is used to melt the unwanted parts of the workpieces to obtain the required shape.
Chemical Shaping Processes
In chemical shaping processes, chemical energy is used to remove material such as using acidic solutions to remove material.
Conclusion
The general classification of material removal processes can be explained and listed above.
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