The article deals with fragments of technological heredity, which is the basis of a new scientific and practical direction in mechanical engineering technology aimed at improving machine parts' performance by technological methods in manufacturing parts. The purpose is to study thermomechanical phenomena affecting the quality of the surface layer, taking into account the processing of products and genetic heterogeneities formed in previous technological operations, to establish the influence of these inhomogeneities on crack and burn formation based on quantitative analysis of the thermal and stress state, as well as with taking into account the heterogeneity of the material of the products. The problem of determining the stress-strain state of a piecewise homogeneous product material, the upper layer containing thin inclusions and crack-like defects, and the active layer of which is subject to mechanical processing, is considered. It was found that the presence of various defects in the surface layer of the processed products, introduced at the stage of obtaining the workpiece and subsequent types of processing, requires the formulation of fracture mechanics criteria in the study of the causes of crack formation.