Thermo-mechanical modeling of orthogonal machining process by finite element analysis

A plane strain finite element method is used with a new material constitutive equation for 1020 steel to simulate orthogonal machining with continuous chip formation. Deformation of the workpiece material is treated as elastic-viscoplastic with isotropic strain hardening, and the numerical solution accounts for coupling between plastic deformation and the temperature field, including treatment of temperature-dependent material properties. To avoid numerical errors associated with large deformation of elements, automatic remeshing is used, with at least 15 rezonings required to achieve a satisfactory solution. Effects of the uncertainty in the constitutive model on the distributions of strain,. stress and temperature around the shear zone are presented, and the model is validated by comparing average values of the predicted stress, strain, strain rate and temperature at the shear zone with experimental results. Parametric effects associated with cutting speed and initial work temperature are considered in the simulations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.