Finite Element Method Simulation of Machining of AISI 1045 Steel

With A Round Edge Cutting Tool

Turul zel and Erol Zeren
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 USA


Abstract
In this paper, FEM modeling and simulation of orthogonal cutting of AISI 1045 steel is
studied by using dynamics explicit Arbirary Lagrangian Eulerian method. The simulation
model utilizes the advantages offered by ALE method in simulating plastic flow around the
round edge of the cutting tool and eliminates the need for chip separation criteria. Johnson-
Cook work material model is used for elastic plastic work deformations. A methodology
developed to determine friction characteristics from orthogonal cutting tests is also utilized
for chip-tool interfacial friction modeling. The simulation results include predicted chip
formation as well as temperature and stress distributions. These results are highly
essential in predicting machining induced residual stresses and other properties on the
machined surface.


1. INTRODUCTION
Finite Element Method (FEM) based modeling
and simulation of machining processes is
continuously attracting researchers for better
understanding the chip formation mechanisms,
heat generation in cutting zones, tool-chip
interfacial frictional characteristics and integrity
on the machined surfaces. Predictions of the
physical parameters such as temperature and
stress distributions accurately play a pivotal role
for predictive process engineering of machining
processes. Tool edge geometry is particularly
important, because its influence on obtaining
most desirable tool life and surface integrity is
extremely high. Therefore, development of
accurate and sound continuum-based FEM
models are required in order to study the
influence of the tool edge geometry, tool wear
mechanisms and cutting conditions on the
residual stresses and surface integrity on the
machined surfaces. This paper aims to review
the FEM modeling studies conducted in the past
and to develop FEM models for most satisfying
simulation of the physical cutting process and
most reasonable predictions for cutting forces,
temperatures and residual stresses on the
machined surface.

In continuum-based FEM modeling, there are
two types of analysis in which a continuous
medium can be described: Eulerian and
Lagrangian. In a Lagrangian analysis, the
computational grid deforms with the material
where as in a Eulerian analysis it is fixed in
space. The Lagrangian calculation embeds a
computational mesh in the material domain and
solves for the position of the mesh at discrete
points in time. In those analyses, two distinct
methods, the implicit and explicit time integration
techniques can be utilized. The implicit technique
is more applicable to solving linear static
problems while explicit method is more suitable
for nonlinear dynamic problems.

A vast majority of research has relied on the
Lagrangian formulation [1,2,3,4,5,6], which
allows the chip to be modeled from incipient to
steady state where as some of the studies also
used the Eulerian formulation [7]. However,
using the Lagrangian formulation requires a
criterion for separation of the undeformed chip
from the work piece. Several chip separation
criteria (e.g. strain energy density, effective strain
criteria) have been developed and implemented
[8]. Updated Lagrangian implicit formulation with
automatic remeshing without using chip
separation criteria has also been used in
simulation of continuous and segmented chip
formation in machining processes
[9,10,11,12,13,14].

Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) technique
combines the features of pure Lagrangian
analysis in which the mesh follows the material,
and Eulerian analysis in which the mesh is fixed
spatially and the material flows through the
mesh. ALE formulation is utilized in simulating
machining to avoid frequent remeshing for chip
separation [15,16].

Explicit dynamic ALE
formulation is very efficient for simulating highly
non-linear problems involving large localized
deformations and changing contact conditions as
those experienced in machining. The explicit
dynamics procedure performs a large number of
small time increments efficiently. The adaptive
meshing technique does not alter elements and
connectivity of the mesh. This technique allows
flow boundary conditions whereby only a small
part of the work piece in the vicinity of the tool tip
needs to be modeled.

Friction in metal cutting plays an important role in
thermo-mechanical chip flow and machined work
surface formation. Most of the approach in
modeling friction is to use an average coefficient
of friction. This model consisted of the sticking
region for which the friction force is constant, and
the sliding region for which the friction force
varies linearly according to Coulombs law.
Interfacial friction at the tool-work contacts
influences cutting induced residual stresses [17].

FEM simulation of machining using
rounded/blunt/worn edge tools is essential in
order to predict accurate and realistic residual
stress, temperature, strain and strain rate fields.
Studies focused on predicting residual stresses
on machined surfaces especially on finished
machined hardened steels [18,19].

All of the reviewed work contributed to
investigate various aspects of fundamental
modeling of cutting processes. After conducting
the review of the literature, the following
deficiencies of the FEM simulations in machining
are identified:
a) Excessive use of non-commercial FEM
codes that makes latest developments highly
difficult to apply by end users.
b) Lack of reliable work material flow stress
models especially those including strain and
strain history effects as well as
microstructure-based characterization.
c) Lack of work material models inclusion of
microstructure effects under the processing
conditions (strain, strain rate, and
temperature) that must be used as input to
any material flow simulation program.
d) Computational difficulties associated with
size of the problems, large solution times and
challenges in frequent remeshing of local
mesh densities in applying the simulations to
realistic 3-D machining operations.
e) Need for extensive computer time and
engineering effort, making the technique
uneconomical to use.

2. WORK MATERIAL MODELING
Accurate and reliable flow stress models are
considered highly necessary to represent work
material constitutive behavior under high-speed
cutting conditions especially for a (new) material.
The constitutive model proposed by Johnson and
Cook [20] describes the flow stress of a material
with the product of strain, strain rate and
temperature effects that are individually
determined as given in Equation (1). In the
Johnson-Cook (JC) model, the parameter A is in
fact the initial yield strength of the material at
room temperature and a strain rate of 1/s and
represents the plastic equivalent strain. The
strain rate
&
is normalized with a reference
strain rate
0

&
. Temperature term in JC model
reduces the flow stress to zero at the melting
temperature of the work material, leaving the
constitutive model with no temperature effect. In
general, the parameters A, B, C, n and m of the
model are fitted to the data obtained by several
material tests conducted at low strains and strain
rates and at room temperature as well as split
Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests at strain
rates up to 1000/s and at temperatures up to 600
C. JC model provides good fit for strain-
hardening behavior of metals and it is
numerically robust and can easily be used in
FEM simulation models. JC shear failure model
is based on a strain at fracture criteria given in
Equation 2. Many researchers used JC model as
constitutive equation for high strain rate, high
temperatures deformation behavior of steels (see
Table 1). JC shear failure model is utilized in
modeling and simulating the segmented and
discontinuous chip formations in cutting of AISI
4340 steel [21,22].
( ) | |
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
m
room melt
room
n
T T
T T
C B A 1 ln 1
0

&
&
(1)
(

+
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
(
(

+ =
|
|
.
|

\
|
room melt
room
p
d
f
T T
T T
d e d d
eff
1 ln 1
0
4 2 1
3

&
&
(2)

Table 1. Johnson-Cook model constants for
various steels

3. FRICTION MODELING
Several researchers have used Oxleys parallel-
sided shear zone in which the primary shear
zone is assumed to be parallel-sided and the
secondary zone is assumed to be of constant
thickness, in order to obtain work flow stress
data.

In order to successfully determine flow stress for
JC material model and friction characteristics at
the tool- chip interface, zel and Zeren [24]
proposed some modifications and improvements
to Oxleys model [25], that includes integration of
Johnson-Cook constitutive model as for the flow
stress and triangular shaped secondary shear
zone as it was confirmed via FEM simulations
(see Figure 1). The basic concept of this
methodology is the use of orthogonal cutting
experiments and inverse solution of Oxleys
model in order to determine the flow stress and
friction conditions experienced in the range of
high-speed cutting.

As commonly accepted, in the tool-chip contact
area near the cutting edge, sticking friction
occurs, and the frictional shearing stress,
int
is
equal to average shear flow stress at tool-chip
interface in the chip, k
chip
. Over the remainder of
the tool-chip contact area, sliding friction occurs,
and the frictional shearing stress can be
calculated using the coefficient of friction
e
. The
normal stress distribution on the tool rake face
can be described as:
( ) ( )
max
1 /
a
N N c
x x l
(
=

(3)
Normal stress distribution over the rake face is
fully defined and the coefficient of friction can be
computed, once the values of the parameters
max
N
and a are found. The shear stress
distribution on the tool rake face illustrated in
Figure 2 can be represented in two distinct
regions:
a) In the sticking region:
int
( )
chip
x k = , ( ) , 0
e N chip P
x k x l < (4)
b) In the sliding region:
int
( ) ( )
e N
x x = , ( ) ,
e N chip P C
x k l x l < < (5)

In Equations 4 and 5, k
chip
is the shear flow stress
of the material at tool-chip interface in the chip.

Based on the methodology detailed in [26], the
constants of the JC material model for AISI 1045
steel are computed as A= 451.6, B= 819.5, C=
0.0000009, n= 0.1736, m= 1.0955 for the
extended ranges of strain (0.051-1.07), strain-
rate (1-17766 1/sec.) and temperature (20-721
C). The calculated friction characteristics
include parameters of the normal and frictional
stress distributions on the rake face as given in
Table 2.
Steel Ref.
A
(MPa)
B
(MPa)
n C m
AISI
4340
[21] 950.0 725.0 0.375 0.015 0.625
AISI
4340
[22] 792.0 510.0 0.26 0.014 1.03
AISI
1045
[23]
553.1 600.8 0.234 0.013 1.000
Tool
Workpiece
Chip
P
rim
a
ry
zo
n
e
S
e
c
o
n
d
a
r
y
z
o
n
e
V
M
A
N
E
C
D
V
c
F
t
c

t
c
l
p
l
c

t
u
(a) (b) Type I Slip-line field (c) Type II slip-lines field

Figure 1. Illustration of the deformation zones and simulated slip-line fields in orthogonal cutting
Table 2. Friction characteristics determined for AISI
1045 steel using carbide cutting tool

Material AISI 1045
V
c
(m/min) 100-400
t
u
(mm) 0.125-0.5

Nmax
(MPa) 1312.63
l
p
(mm) 0.639
l
c
(mm) 3.122
a 0.183
k
chip
(MPa) 202.95

e
0.64

4. FINITE ELEMENT MODEL AND ADAPTIVE
MESHING

The essential and desired attributes of the
continuum-based FEM models for cutting are: (1)
The work material model should satisfactorily
represent elastic plastic and thermo-mechanical
behavior of the work material deformations
observed during machining process, (2) FEM
model should not require chip separation criteria
that highly deteriorate the physical process
simulation around the tool cutting edge
especially when there is dominant tool edge
geometry such as a round edge or a chamfered
edge is in present, (3) Interfacial friction
characteristics on the tool-chip and tool-work
contacts should be modeling highly accurately in
order to account for additional heat generation
and stress developments due friction.

In this paper, a commercial software code,
ABAQUS/Explicit v6.4 and ALE modeling
approach is used to conduct the FEM simulation
of orthogonal cutting considering round tool edge
geometry and all of the above attributes are
successfully implemented in the model. The chip
formation is simulated via adaptive meshing and
plastic flow of work material. Therefore, no chip
separation criterion is needed.

In the ALE approach, the explicit dynamics
procedure performs a large number of small time
increments efficiently. The general governing
equations are solved both Lagrangian
boundaries and Eulerian boundary approaches
in same fashion. The adaptive meshing
technique does not alter elements and
connectivity of the mesh. This technique
combines the features of pure Lagrangian
analysis in which the mesh follows the material,
and Eulerian analysis in which the mesh is fixed
spatially and the material flows through the
mesh. Explicit dynamic ALE formulation allows
flow boundary conditions whereby only a small
part of the work piece in the vicinity of the tool tip
needs to be modeled.

The simulation model is created by including
workpiece thermal and mechanical properties,
boundary conditions, contact conditions between
tool and the workpiece as shown in Figure 2 and
given in Table 3. The workpiece and the tool
model use four-node bilinear displacement and
temperature (CPE4RT) quadrilateral elements
and a plane strain assumption for the
deformations in orthogonal cutting.

The cutting process as a dynamic event causes
large deformations in a few numbers of
increments resulting in massive mesh distortion
and termination of the simulation. It is highly
critical to use adaptive meshing with fine tuned
parameters in order to simulate the plastic flow
over the round edge of the tool. Therefore the
intensity, frequency and sweeping of the
adaptive meshing is adjusted to most optimum
setting for maintaining a successful mesh during
cutting.

The general equations of motion in explicit
dynamics analysis are integrated by using
explicit central difference integration rule with
diagonal element mass matrices, Equation 6.
| |{ } | |{ } | |{ } { }
M C K P
N N N N
u u u + + = && & (6)
( ) ( )
1
( ) ( ) ( )
M P I
N NJ J J
i i i
u

= && (7)

Where M
NJ
, P
J
, I
J
are the diagonal element mass
matrix, the applied load vector, and the internal
force vector, respectively.
( ) ( )
N
i
i i N
i
N
i
u
t t
u u
) (
) ( ) 1 (
2 1 2 1
2
& & & &
+
+ =
+
+
(8)
N
i i
N
i
N
i
u t u u
) 2 1 ( ) 1 ( ) ( ) 1 ( + + +
+ = & (9)
( ) ( )
1
( ) ( ) ( )
C P F
N NJ J J
i i i

=
&
(10)
N
i i
N
i
N
i
t
) ( ) 1 ( ) ( ) 1 (

&
+ +
+ = (11)

The expressions for the nodal displacement u,
velocities u& , and accelerations u& & , are given in
Equations 6 and 7 where t is time increment.
u
N
is a degree of freedom and i is the
incremental number in the explicit dynamics step
[27]. In this case, we see that the system
equations become uncoupled so that each
equation can be solved for explicitly. This makes
explicit dynamic method highly efficient for non-
linear dynamics problem such as metal cutting.

During metal cutting, flow stress is highly
dependent on temperature fields as we
discussed earlier. Therefore, fully coupled
thermal-stress analysis is required for accurate
predictions in FEM simulations. In this analysis,
the equations of heat transfer are integrated
using explicit forward difference time integration
with lumped capacitance matrix as given by
Equations 10 and 11, where C
NJ
is the lumped
capacitance matrix, P
J
is the applied nodal
source vector, F
J
is the internal flux vector, is the
temperature
N
at node N.

In summary, the explicit dynamics method is
used mainly because it has the advantages of
computational efficiency for large deformation
and highly non-linear problems as experience in
machining. Machining, as a coupled thermal-
mechanical process, could generate heat to
cause mechanical and thermal effects influence
each other strongly. In the mean time, work
material properties change dramatically as strain
rate and temperature changes. Thus, the fully
coupled thermal-stress analysis, in which the
temperature solution and stress solution are also
carried out concurrently, is applied.



Table 3. Cutting conditions, work and tool
material properties used in the FEM simulation
model

Orthogonal Cutting Parameters
Cutting speed, V
c
(m/min) 300
Uncut chip thicknes, t
u
(mm) 0.1
Width of cut, w (mm) 1
Tool rake angle, (degree) -5
Tool clearance angle (degree) 5
Tool edge radius, (mm) 0.02
AISI 1045 Workpiece Properties
Coefficient of thermal expansion
(m /mC)
11 (at 20 C)
Density (g/cm
3
) 7.8
Poissons ratio 0.3
Specific heat (J/kg/C) 432.6
Thermal conductivity (W/mC) 47.7
Youngs modulus (GPa) 200
Carbide Tool Properties
Coefficient of thermal expansion
(m/mC)
4.7 (at 20 C)
4.9 (at 1000 C)
Density (g/cm
3
) 15
Poissons Ratio 0.2
Specific heat (J/kg/C) 203
Thermal conductivity (W/mC) 46
Youngs Modulus (GPa) 800

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The simulations were conducted and the chip
formation process from the incipient to the
steady state was fully observed as shown in
Figure 3.

CHIP
TOOL
WORKPIECE
y
x
Lagrangian
V = V
T=T
x c
U = U = 0 , T= T
x y 0
0


Figure 2. Simulation model used for ALE with Lagrangian boundary conditions


12 m 25 m

50 m 75 m
Figure 3. FEM Simulation of orthogonal cutting with a round edge tool using ALE with Lagrangian
boundary conditions
Figure 4. The stress distributions of
xx
and
yy
in orthogonal cutting with a round edge tool (predicted
stresses are in 10
-4
x MPa)
Figure 3 also shows the temperature predictions
at increments of 12, 25, 50 and 75 m as
maximum temperatures of 850, 910, 1090 and
1120 C respectively. The distributions of the
predicted the von Mises stress distributions are
given in Figure 4. The von Mises stress
xx
and

yy
also represent the residual stress
distributions on the machined surface. From the
simulation results it was observed that there exist
a region of very high deformation rate around the
round edge of the cutting tool. The round edge of
the cutting tool and the highly deformed region
underneath has an dominant influence on the
residual stresses of the machined surface. This
also signifies the current work when compared
the earlier FEM modeling studies that used
criteria for chip-workpiece separation [28,29].
The uses of separation criteria undermine the
influence of the cutting edge on the residual
stress on the machined surface. In this study, the
work material is allowed to flow around the round
edge of the cutting tool and simulated the
physical process.

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this study we have utilized the dynamics
explicit Arbirary Lagrangian Eulerian method and
developed a FEM simulation model for
orthogonal cutting of AISI 1045 steel using round
edge carbide cutting tool. Johnson-Cook work
material model and a detailed friction model are
also used and work material flow around the
round edge of the cutting tool is simulated in
conjunction with an adaptive meshing scheme.
The simulation of the chip formation,
development of temperature distributions as well
as predictions of the stress distributions in the
chip, tool and on the machined surface are
successfully achieved. This study establishes a
framework to further study machining induced
residual stresses accurately and process design
via optimization of cutting conditions, tool edge
geometry for high-speed machining applications.

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