Abstract: The failure of ceramic cutting tools in continuous cutting process is dominated by abrasion wear. The service life of the cutting tools is determined by the fracture toughness and hardness of the ceramics and the cutting parameters. The sample values of the fracture toughness and hardness can be acquired by Monte Carlo simulation. The cutting parameters are determined by the cutting tests. Thus the service life and reliability of the cutting tools can be calculated by combining the sample mechanical values with the cutting parameters. As the results, the reliability of the cutting tools is primarily dependent on the fracture toughness, therefore the tool reliability can be estimated by taking into account the parameter.