FE analysis of the effects of process representations on the prediction of residual stresses and chip morphology in the down-milling of Ti6Al4V

Abstract

Abstract Part I of these two-part papers will investigate the effect of three FEM representations of the milling process on the prediction of chip morphology and residual stresses (RS), when down-milling small uncut chips with thickness in the micrometer range and finite cutting edge radius. They are: i) orthogonal cutting with the mean uncut chip thickness t, obtained by averaging the uncut chip thickness over the cutting length, ii) orthogonal cutting with variable t, which characterizes the down-milling process and which is imposed on a flat surface of the final workpiece, and iii) modelling the true kinematics of the down milling process. The appropriate constitutive model is identified through 2D FEM investigation of the effects of selected constitutive equations and failure models on the prediction of RS and chip morphology in the dry orthogonal machining of Ti6Al4V and comparison to experimental measurements. The chip morphology and RS prediction capability of these representations is assessed using the available set of experimental data. Models featuring variable chip thickness have revealed the transition from continuous chip formation to the rubbing mode and have improved the predictions of residual stresses. The use of sequential cuts is necessary to converge toward experimental data.