Tool fracture index(TFI) was developed in order not only to detect tool fracture but also to predict the amount of tool fracture in face milling. TFI is calculated by using peak-to-valley values of cutting force acting on teeth and their ratio between the adjacent teeth. When the tool fractures, a large value of TFI proportional to the amount of tool fracture was obtained periodically and decreased gradually. It was found that TFI is independent of cutter runout and it almost does not vary during transient cutting such as cutting condition change during machining. The threshold of tool fracture can be analytically determined by TFI developed in this paper, because the magnitude of TFI was shown to be dependent on the ratio of the amount of tool fracture to feed per tooth and immersion ratio. It was possible to predict the amount of tool fracture in experiments by using the proposed TFI.