Hi Terry
Well, yes , and no (imho).
Rubbing is seriously bad of course, but having intercepted a few cases just before the cutter broke (really), I don't think it is that simple.
What I have seen ias a build-up of aluminium at the tip of the cutter - little chips sticking to the carbide. It is known that some carbides have a slightly rough, almost porous surface, and the aluminium can get wedged into the pores. That's at the microscopic level. Then the built-up aluminium starts to rub on the stock, and that does create a LOT of heat and a run-away situation.
Yeah, I kid you not: there was this slightly melted blob of aluminium wrapped around the tip of the carbide cutter! Getting it off was hard: it was really stuck on in a conformal manner. I switched to a polished HSS-Co cutter for the rest of that job - with some pulsed kero/oil mist to keep the cutter wet.
I agree that the sharper edge on a cutter meant for Aluminium works better - a polished flute also seems to help. Some of those 'aluminium' cutters break down quickly when used on steel. The edge is too thin.
It all gets expensive. Now I have cutters labelled 'steel', 'titanium', 'aluminium' and 'plastic', and have to keep them separate. But it seems to work.
Cheers
Roger