Experimental Investigation and FE Simulation of the Effect of Variable Control on Temperature Distribution in Orthogonal Metal Cutting Process

Abstract

The study aimed at building a 3-Dimensional finite element simulation to monitor orthogonal machining process under a dry machining environment. The study was conducted in two stages of experimentation and finite element modelling and simulation (FEMS). The purpose of the experimentation was to obtain data which will be used to validate the FEMS result. The FEMS was carried out with a commercially available solver. The workpiece material employed for the study was mild steel in the form of round bar of solid shaft having 45mm diameter and length of 500mm. Mild steel was selected due to its wide range of applications in the fields of manufacturing tools and mould industry. The tool material used was tungsten carbide of DIN4980R 20 mm x 20 mm, with cutting angle of 80-degree tool steel, which was modelled in the FEMS as a rigid body. Various cutting conditions such as speed, feed rate and depth of cut were considered to obtain the tool chip temperature. Different values of temperature were recorded at interval of 10 seconds and ranged from 10 to 100 seconds. The FEMS was carried out by making one of the conditions vary while the others were constant. The temperature values measured with a digital thermocouple were used to validate the FEMS data obtained. The result show that the cutting temperature predicted by the FEMS is within 20% of the real experimental value and followed the same trend. It was discovered that the values of temperature obtained from simulation were also much higher than that of experimentation. Therefore, the experimental value might not be accurate, due to some experimental errors and environmental effects like partial contact between the measuring device and the cutting tools, fluctuation in the magnitude of air flow around the surrounding which may affect the cutting temperature, room temperature and pressure effect. Generally, with an increase in the cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, the tool temperature also increased and the cutting speed was found to be the most effective parameter when consideration is given to temperature effects, especially in high range of cutting conditions.