The applied heat flux on the drilling surface of drilling tool is estimated in the present three-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem. The inverse algorithm utilizing the Steepest Descent Method (SDM) and a general purpose commercial code CFX4.4 is applied successfully in this study based on the simulated and measured temperature distributions with time at four sensors embedded on the drilling surfaces. The numerical experiments are considered at the first stage to illustrate the validity of inverse determination of the unknown heat flux using exact and error measurements. Experimental data are then used to estimate the actual heat flux along the drilling edge at two different drill peripheral cutting speeds. Results of both the numerical and experimental examinations show that the reliable estimated heat flux can be obtained by using the present inverse algorithm. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.