Modeling Cutting Force in Micro-Milling of Ti-6Al-4 V Titanium Alloy

Abstract

This work presents a finite element method (FEM) based micro-end milling cutting force modeling of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy microchannels. Ti-6Al-4V is one of the widely acceptable titanium based alloys for medical as well as aerospace applications due to its advantageous properties like; corrosion resistance, larger strength to weight ratio, non-toxic nature and bio-compatibility. Johnson-Cook constitutive equation is used for the FEM model with due consideration of effects of strain, strain rate and temperature on the material property and failure parameters considered as the chip separation criterion. Simulation of stress distribution, temperature distribution and cutting forces prediction during micro-end milling of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is performed by ABAQUS/Explicit 6.12 software with incorporation of tool edge radius effect, which is more common in downscaling of the process. Predicted cutting forces model results are validated by conducting micro-end milling experiments. The trend of the predicted cutting forces results shows in good agreement with experimental results.