Most of the energy consumed by Disc chipper cutting is converted into heat, except for the strain energy consumed in the machined surface and chips. We call the heat converted by Disc chipper cutting as cutting heat. The heat of cutting heats the Disc chipper, chips and machined surface, thereby increasing their temperature.

The cutting heat mainly occurs in the area where the plastic deformation of the workpiece occurs in front of the cutting edge of the Disc chipper, that is, the area where the rake face and the chip and the flank face and the workpiece contact friction. When metal chips are processed, about 70% of the cutting energy is consumed by shear deformation, so the heat-generating area is mainly concentrated in the area extending from the cutting edge of the Disc chipper to the shearing surface, and the friction area between the rake surface and the chip. However, when cutting wood, the force required for cutting deformation is much smaller than that of metal, and the cutting speed is higher. Therefore, under normal conditions, the friction and heating of the rake face during wood cutting is the most important. Due to the large elastic recovery of the machined surface, the frictional heating of the flank surface cannot be ignored. In closed cutting such as sawing and drilling, the disc chipper part, which is not directly related to the formation of the shoulder, also rubs against the cutting surface and generates heat.