Swarf, also known as chips or by other process-specific names (such as turnings, filings, or shavings), are pieces of metal, wood, or plastic that are the debris or waste resulting from
machining
Machining is a process in which a material (often metal) is cut to a desired final shape and size by a controlled material-removal process. The processes that have this common theme are collectively called subtractive manufacturing, which utilizes ...
,
woodworking
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...
, or similar subtractive (material-removing) manufacturing processes. Swarf or chips can be small particles (such as the gritty swarf from
grinding
Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade.
Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to:
Grinding action
* Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting
* Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing
* Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...
metal or the
sawdust from sawing or
sanding wood); long, stringy tendrils (such as the springy chips from
turning
Turning is a machining process in which a cutting tool, typically a non-rotary tool bit, describes a helix toolpath by moving more or less linearly while the workpiece rotates.
Usually the term "turning" is reserved for the generation of ...
tough
Tough may refer to:
* Toughness, the resistance to fracture of a material when stressed
* Machismo, prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity
* Psychological resilience
Tough may also refer to:
People
* Allen Tough (1936–2012), Canadian ...
metals, or long shavings from
whittling);
slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
-like waste (such as is produced within pipe during
pipefitting work); or
stone fragments and dust (as in
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
).
["The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago." —Ishmael, in '' Moby-Dick'', by Herman Melville.]
Some of these terms are
mass noun
In linguistics, a mass noun, uncountable noun, non-count noun, uncount noun, or just uncountable, is a noun with the syntactic property that any quantity of it is treated as an undifferentiated unit, rather than as something with discrete elemen ...
s (such as ''swarf'' and ''sawdust'') and some of them are
count noun
In linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a quantity and that occurs in both singular and plural forms, and that can co-occur with quantificational determiners like ''every'', ''each'', ''several'', et ...
s (such as ''chips'', ''filings'', or ''shavings'').
Wood swarf is discussed at ''
sawdust''.
Metal swarf
![A song of fire and metal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/A_song_of_fire_and_metal.jpg)
Chips can be extremely sharp and they can cause serious
injuries if not handled correctly. It is not uncommon for chips flying off the
cutter to be ejected with great force and to fly several yards.
Due to its high
surface area
The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc ...
, swarf composed of some reactive metals can be highly flammable. Swarf may also
spontaneously combust, especially if the swarf is coated with cutting oil.
To extinguish swarf fires, a special
fire extinguisher is needed, designed for fighting
Class D (metal) fires.
When machining without coolant, swarf is usually very hot and can easily burn the machine operator. Machinists typically wear long pants, eye protection and other personal protective equipment for this reason.
Some common engineering materials such as
beryllium
Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...
are hazardous when finely divided and appropriate measures should be taken to prevent exposure.
For ease of transport and handling, swarf may be compressed into ''bricks''. Metal swarf can usually be
recycled
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
.
References
{{Authority control
Machining
Metalworking terminology