A three-dimensional heat conduction inverse procedure to investigate tool–chip thermal interaction in machining process

Abstract

The present work is set to study the thermal contact phenomena in the tool–chip contact area, which affects the tool life and product quality in the machining process. The objective of this paper is to develop a reliable, efficient, and easy-to-use method for determining important and useful parameters required to study the thermal phenomena in the interface such as the thermal heat flux flowing into the cutting tool and the temperature distribution in the cutting tool. To estimate the heat flux, an inverse procedure is developed based on the sequential function specification (SFS) method. The thermocouples inserted into the specific locations of the cutting tool provide the inverse solver input data during the machining tests performed on AISI 1045 and AISI 304 steels. Future time regularisation method is used to reduce the errors caused by noise in the measured data. Temperature distribution in the tool is computed by performing transient thermal analysis using a 3D finite element model of the cutting tool. The effects of the machining parameters such as cutting speed and feed rate as well as the workpiece material properties on the thermal heat flux and tool temperature in the tool–chip interface are investigated and discussed considering the heat generation and propagation in the secondary deformation zone. The results of the research provide good insight into the effects of the machining parameters, workpiece properties, and tool surface quality on the thermal phenomena in the tool–chip interface.