Critical Undeformed Chip Thickness and Cutting Pressure in Relation to Ductile Mode Cutting of KDP Crystal

Microgroove processes are carried out on Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate (KDP) crystals of different crystalline orientation using diamond tool, the speed of groove is very low in order to avoid the influence of temperature. The main process characteristics are examined including the groove geometry, cutting forces and critical underformed chip thickness at the onset of ductile-to-brittle cutting transition. Additionally, the cutting pressure is calculated from the cutting force and grooving geometry. The experimental results show that as the groove depth increase, the groove geometry clearly revealed that ductile-to-brittle cutting transition occurred, and the transition are well reflected by changing in the cutting pressure. Further, it is shown that the critical undeformed chip thickness varies greatly with the workpiece KDP crystalline orientation.