Most of the materials undergoing comminution processes on their way to final use or destination show non-brittle material or deformation behaviour. In contrary to brittle materials, the scientific view on the microprocess of comminution is nearly zero. The profound knowledge about shaping by cutting, as for instance by lathes, is excluded in this paper because the point of view is different in cutting and comminution. Cutting is mainly interested in the geometry of the tools and in the optimal velocity for different material combinations (shaped material and tool material). Comminution a interested in the necessary energy input, related to mass or to the newly created surface, and the resulting particle size. The latter is normally greater than with cutting processes. In addition, multiple loading combined with bending, friction and compaction will occur during comminution. During the last 5 to 10 years, some fundamental work was done on such different fields as harvesting wheat or corn and preparing waste and metal scraps for reuse. The paper gives some examples of research results. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.