Effects of tool angles and uncut chip thickness on consumption of plastic deformation energy during machining process

Abstract

Research on the underlying mechanism that controls the chip deformation and energy consumption is a basis to instruct the cutting process planning and improve the machining efficiency. The metal cutting process can be treated as purposeful separation of workpiece material, and the stress state located at the tool tip has great effect on the fracture of material being removed. Through studying the relationship between the stress triaxiality and chip formation process, this paper aims to reveal the effects of tool rake angle, inclination angle and uncut chip thickness on chip deformation behavior and associated energy consumption during machining of 1045 steel based on finite element method (FEM). A two-dimensional FEM model for orthogonal cutting is developed to study the effect of tool rake angle and uncut chip thickness on chip deformation, while a three-dimensional FEM model for oblique cutting is developed to investigate the effect of tool inclination angle. The parameter of chip compression ratio (CCR) is adopted to assess the chip plastic deformation and energy consumption under varied machining conditions. The cutting force component calculated based on CCR is compared with the total cutting force to demonstrate the dominant role of chip plastic deformation in cutting energy consumption. The results indicate that larger rake angle and smaller inclination angle of cutting tools as well as larger uncut chip thickness lead to increase of stress triaxiality near the tool tip, which can reduce the material fracture strain and be beneficial for the separation of material being removed from the bulk workpiece. This paper will be attractive from both practical and fundamental perspectives devoted to instructing the optimization of cutting parameters to improve the processing efficiency and reduce the energy consumption.