Numerical simulation of titanium alloy dry machining with a strain softening constitutive law

Abstract

In this study, the commercial finite element software FORGE2005, able to solve complex thermo-mechanical problems is used to model titanium alloy dry machining. One of the main machining characteristics of titanium alloys is to produce a special chip morphology named “saw-tooth chip” or serrated chip for a wide range of cutting speeds and feeds. The mechanism of saw-tooth chip formation is still not completely understood. Among the two theories about its formation, this study assumes that chip segmentation is only induced by adiabatic shear band formation and thus no material failure occurs in the primary shear zone. Based on the assumption of material strain softening, a new material law was developed. The aim of this study is to analyze the newly developed model’s capacity to correctly simulate the machining process. The model validation is based on the comparison of experimental and simulated results, such as chip formation, global chip morphology, cutting forces and geometrical chip characteristics. A good correlation was found between the experimental and numerical results, especially for cutting speeds generating low tool wear.