Modelling of temperature and forces when orthogonally machining hardened steel

This paper initially considers heat generation in single-point metal cutting and the direct/indirect techniques employed to measure cutting temperatures. The development of analytical models of the cutting process is briefly reviewed, including more recent work involving finite element (FE) methods. Details are given of the different FE packages and formulation methods used by different researchers. Following on from this, an FE model is presented using FORGE 2® to simulate cutting forces and temperature distributions when orthogonal turning a hardened hot work die steel, AISI H13 (52HRC), with polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tooling. Experimental data from infrared chip surface temperature measurements and cutting force output are used to validate the model. Good correlation was obtained between experimental and modelled results for temperature; however, the FE analysis underestimated feed force results due to a lack of adequate workpiece property data and simplistic tool/chip friction assumptions.