According to the specific conditions of workpiece material, tool geometry and cutting amount, the chip shapes are generally: strip chips, C-shaped chips, broken chips, 

pagoda-shaped chips, spring-shaped chips, long tight spiral chips, spiral chips, etc.

1) Strip chips: When cutting plastic metal materials at high speed, if chip breaking measures are not taken, strip chips are easily formed. This type of chip is continuous and 

often entangled on the workpiece or tool, which is easy to scratch the workpiece surface or damage the cutting edge of the tool, or even hurt people. Therefore, the 

formation of strip chips should be avoided as much as possible. However, sometimes it is also hoped to obtain strip chips so that the chips can be discharged smoothly. For 

example, when boring blind holes on a vertical boring machine.

(2) C-shaped chips: When turning general carbon steel and alloy steel materials, if a turning tool with a chip breaker groove is used, C-shaped chips are easily formed. 

C-shaped chips do not have the disadvantages of strip chips. However, most C-shaped chips are broken by colliding with the back face of the turning tool or the surface of 

the workpiece. Frequent chip breakage and fracture will affect the stability of the cutting process, thus affecting the roughness of the machined surface. Therefore, C-shaped 

chips are generally not desired during fine machining. Instead, long spiral chips are more desired to make the cutting process smoother.

(3) Clockwork-shaped chips: When turning steel parts on a heavy lathe with a large cutting depth and a large feed rate, the chips are wide and thick. If C-shaped chips are 

formed, it is easy to damage the cutting edge and even cause flying and injuring people. Therefore, the radius of the arc at the bottom of the chip breaker groove is usually 

increased to make the chips into a clockwork shape, which will collide and break on the machined surface and fall by its own weight.

(4) Long and tight chips: The formation process of long and tight chips is relatively smooth and easy to clean. It is a better chip shape on ordinary lathes.

(5) Pagoda-shaped chips: When CNC machining, machine tools or automatic line machining, this type of chips is desired because such chips will not be entangled on the tool 

and workpiece. It is also easy to clean.

(6) Chip breakage: When turning brittle materials such as cast iron, brittle brass, and cast bronze, it is very easy to form needle-shaped or fragmentary chips, which can easily 

splash and injure people and damage machine tools. If chip rolling measures are adopted, the chips can be connected into short rolls.