Influence of laser nanostructured diamond tools on the cutting behavior of silicon by molecular dynamics simulation

In this study, a series of large-scale molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the nanometric cutting of single crystal silicon with a laser-fabricated nanostructured diamond tool. The material removal behavior of the workpiece using a structured diamond tool cutting is studied. The effects of groove direction, depth, width, factor, and shape on material deformation are carefully investigated by analyzing normal stresses, shear stress, von Mises stress, hydrostatic stress, phase transformation, cutting temperature, cutting force and friction coefficients. Simulation results show that a cutting tool groove orientation of 60 degrees produces a smaller cutting force, less cutting heat, more beta-silicon phase, and less von Mises stress and hydrostatic stress. Moreover, tools with a smaller groove orientation, groove depth and groove width, and larger groove factor lead to more ductile cutting and an increased material removal rate. However, a cutting tool with a smaller groove width results in more heat during the nanoscale cutting process. In addition, the average temperature of the subsurface increases as groove factor increases, showing that a tool groove accelerates heat dissipation to the subsurface atoms. Furthermore, this V-shape groove cutting is shown to improve material removal ability in nanoscale cutting.