According to the literature, alumina-based ceramic tools are one of the optimal choices formachining hardened steels due to their high hot hardness and chemical stability. The objective of thepresent work is to investigate the performance of the pure alumina ceramic with the addition of ZrO2This work can be utilized for optimization of this HSM operation for the sake of reducing thetotal machining cost. The optimization methodology has to consider that the hourly cost for modernmachining centers is considerably higher than that of the cutting tools. This supports the applicationof HSM, regardless the expected short tool life obtained at the very high cutting speeds [31].