Numerical and experimental study of dry cutting for an aeronautic aluminium alloy (A2024-T351)

In the present contribution, numerical and experimental methodologies concerning orthogonal cutting are proposed in order to study the dry cutting of an aeronautic aluminium alloy (A2024-T351). The global aim concerns the comprehension of physical phenomena accompanying chip formation according to cutting velocity variation. For the numerical model, material behaviour and its failure criterion are based on the Johnson-Cook law. The model proposes a coupling between material damage evolution and its fracture energy. A high-speed camera was used to capture the chip formation sequences. The numerical results show that the chip-workpiece contact and the tool advancement induce bending loads on the chip. Consequently, a fragmentation phenomenon takes place above the rake face when the chip begins to curl up. The computed results corroborate with experimental ones. The numerical results predict the residual stress distribution and show high values, along the cutting direction, on the machined workpiece surface. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.