Numerical Simulation of Machining Nickel-Based Alloys

Abstract

The phenomenological models for material flow stress and fracture, typically used in the Finite Element simulations of machining Nickel-based alloys, are often deemed to represent only certain metallurgical material states. In contrast, these models are not suitable to describe the constitutive behavior of the workpiece for different metallurgical states (i.e., annealed, aged, etc.) and, consequently, different hardness values.Since the description of the material behavior requires correct formulation of the constitutive law, new flow stress models which include also the hardness effect should be developed and used, for computer simulation of machining Nickel-based alloys.This paper describes the development of a hardness-based flow stress and fracture models for machining Inconel 718 alloy which can be applied for a wide range of work material hardness. These models have been implemented in a non-isothermal viscoplastic numerical model to simulate the influence of work material hardness on the chip formation process. The predicted results are being validated with experimental results properly carried out for this research. They are found to satisfactory predict the cutting forces, the temperature and the chip morphology from continuous to segmented chip as the hardness values change.