Highly responsive and accurate temperature measurements in orthogonal cutting through innovative single leg thermocouple

Abstract

During machining, most of the thermal sources are resulting from the conversion of mechanical energy during the chip shearing mechanism and the intense frictions between the tool, the chip, and the machined surface. Thermal gradients are high and localized, especially for low thermal diffusivity material like titanium alloys. Moreover, heat rates come close to few million degrees per second in the shearing zones. Even though several authors performed thermography techniques to determine the temperature distribution into the machined material, their results remain underestimated due to experimental limitations. In this research, a new temperature measurement technique has been developed based on a single wire thermocouple to measure at one exact location both the temperature and the heating rate during orthogonal cutting test. The tests are performed with uncut chip thicknesses of 0.020 mm and 0.100 mm and with a cutting speed of 120 m/min with two different cutting angles. Results are discussed and compared to prior studies.