Stochastic theory of tool life -- theoretical developments on the injury theory (Q2350558)

Summary: This paper aims at presenting a revisited and extended version of the injury theory, originally developed by \textit{S. Ramalingam} and \textit{J. D. Watson} [``Tool-life distributions. I: Single-injury tool-life model'', ASME J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. 99, No. 3, 519--522 (1977; \url{doi:10.1115/1.3439271})] and \textit{S. Ramalingam} [``Tool-life distributions. II: Multiple-injury tool-life model'', ibid. 99, No. 3, 523--528 (1977; \url{doi:10.1115/1.3439272})]. This theory allows deriving tool-life distributions when either a single catastrophic event or a gradual and cumulative wear process terminates the tool useful life. Since these models cover great importance in tool-life modelling, this paper would contribute in this direction with further observations and results, giving special attention to the mathematical formulation. In particular, besides deriving known results following a different approach, we extend the theory to the case of multiple machines with both single- and multi-tool configurations. Moreover, as examples we derive different expressions of the tool-life distribution in the cases studied related to particular formulations of the injury rate.