Finite Element Modelling and Residual Stress Prediction in End Milling of Ti6Al4Valloy

Abstract

Titanium and its alloys are materials that exhibit unique combination of mechanical and physical properties that enable their usage in various fields. In spite of having a lot of advantages, their usage is limited because they are difficult to machine due to their inherent properties of high specific heat capacity, reactivity with tool and low thermal conductivity thereby causing excessive tool wear. To facilitate the process of machining, it becomes necessary to find out and relieve the residual stress caused during machining. Since experiments cannot be performed for each instance, creation of an FE model is desirable. In this paper a finite element analysis (FEA) of the machining of Ti6Al4V for different cutting speeds is presented. A 3D finite element model is developed with the Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) as the workpiece and a four flute carbide tip end mill cutter as the tool to predict the residual stress developed within the titanium alloy after machining. The finite element model utilises the Johnson-Cook model to depict the plasticity and the damage criteria and implements the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation to increase the accuracy of the model. The FE model has been developed and the findings are presented. The results indicate that residual stresses are maximum at the surface and decrease linearly along the depth and increase as the cutting speed and depth of cut are increased.