ABRASIVE AND DIFFUSIVE TOOL WEAR FEM SIMULATION

A. Attanasio1*, D. Umbrello2
1

University of Brescia - Dept. of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering - Italy

2
University of Calabria - Dept. of Mechanical Engineering - Italy

ABSTRACT: In this paper, an adopted abrasive-diffusive wear model is proposed and implemented into a 3D Finite
Element code to study the tool wear phenomenon. In particular, the Authors found that FE procedure based only on
diffusive mechanism shown some problems when the extension on crater area was investigated. This can be related to
the absence of the wear abrasion term on the utilized model. Therefore, in this work, the Authors improved the previous
utilized tool wear model introducing into the sub-routine the abrasive term on the basis of Usuis model. A series of 3D
FEM simulations were conducted in order to estimate the tool wear development in turning operations. The adopted
abrasive-diffusive wear model will give the possibility of correctly evaluating the tool wear of actual turning operations
during both the initial transient phase, where the abrasive mechanism is dominant, and the steady-state phase, in which
the diffusion is the main wear mechanism. The FEM results were compared with experimental data, obtained turning
AISI 1045 steel with WIDIA P40 inserts, showing a satisfactory agreement.
KEYWORDS: Cutting, Tool wear, 3D FEM

1 INTRODUCTION
Tool wear is widely considered as one of the most
important aspects causing poor quality of worked piece
in cutting. Consequently tool wear prediction and tool
substitution policy are regarded as very important tasks
in order to maximize tool performance and minimize
cutting costs. For this reason a relevant number of papers
on tool wear can be recognized in literature [1-4].
In particular, according the technical literature, several
wear mechanisms can be defined, namely abrasion
(related to thermo - mechanical action), adhesion (related
to micro welding and Built Up Edge formation and
removal), diffusion (chemical alteration due to atomic
migration at high temperature), and fatigue. The above
phenomena are generally present in combination, even if
only one or few of them result to be dominant as the
cutting conditions, and consequently contact pressure
and temperature, and the workpiece and tool materials
change.
Many efforts have been made in describing, through
analytical models, the various wear mechanisms as
function of process parameters [4-6], tool material and
geometry and workpiece material [1, 2]. In contrast, only
few regard the simulation of tool wear [7, 8] especially
when 3D simulation is used [9] and within these, the
utilized tool wear models were focused on some of the
main wear mechanisms only. From a theoretical point of
view, this assumption can be done when the
implemented tool wear mechanism results very
predominant respect to the other ones. In fact, as it is

well known diffusive wear mechanism [4] becomes

predominant when low carbon steels are machined using
uncoated WC tools and the temperatures higher than
700-800C are reached [10]. In contrast, when tool
materials and workpiece are selected, abrasion wear
mechanism [6] results predominant in the transient phase
and in the steady-state region [9] where temperatures are
lower than 700C.
Therefore, in order to supply results more closer to the
industrial needs (by covering a large range of situations
and not only particular conditions), it is desirable to
develop a 3D FE models able to simulate tool wear
phenomena that take into account different tool wear
mechanisms.
The present paper was developed according to the
described strategy. In fact, both abrasive and diffusive
wear mechanisms were implemented into the 3D FE
software adopting both abrasive and diffusive wear
models. As shown in Figure 1, when the temperature of
the tool rake surface is lower than the activation
temperature of the diffusive phenomenon (light grey area
in Figure 1), the wear rate is estimated applying the
abrasive model proposed by Usui in [6]. Differently, in
the tool area where the temperature is higher than the
diffusive activation temperature (dark grey area in
Figure 1) the wear rate is evaluated applying the
equation describing the diffusive model [4, 9].
Moreover, a new 3D updating procedure for the dynamic
prediction of the tool wear was developed. Finally, a
series of three dimensional experimental tests was
carried out in order to validate the simulation strategy.

____________________
* Corresponding author: University of Brescia - Dept. of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Via Branze 38, 25123 Brescia ITALY, phone: +39-030-3715584, fax: +39-030-3702448, attanasi@ing.unibs.it

Abrasive wear model

T700C

Table 1 reports average tool wear data for the 3D

experiments.
Table 1: Experimental tool wear in 3D cutting

Diffusive wear model

T>700C

VC
m/min

f
mm/rev

Figure 1: Tool wear model as function of tool

temperature

150

0.17

160

0.25

2 3D EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
Cylindrical bars with a diameter of 100 mm were cut
using uncoated ISO P40 inserts with tool nose radius of
0.8 mm and clearance angle () of 6. Furthermore, the
inserts was positioned into a tool holder in order to
obtain a rake angle () of 0, an inclination angle () of
7 and, finally, an entering angle () of 90, as illustrated
in Figure 2.

Time
min
1
2
4
6
1
2
4
6

KM
mm

VB
mm
0.134

0.389
0.476
0.554
0.497
0.548
0.558
0.686
0.693

0.148
0.184
0.199
0.122
0.143
0.194
0.247

KT
mm
0.027
0.038
0.074
0.095
0.02
0.048
0.099
0.110

3 3D NUMERICAL MODELLING
3.1 3D FE MODEL
The 3D model, implemented in Deform 3D v6.1, is
reported in Figure 4 where it is possible to see the
workpiece with the growing chip and the tool. The tool,
a rigid object meshed with more than 100,000 elements,
is oriented according to the cutting angles set in
experimental test and reported in Table 2 and it moves
along a linear direction. The workpiece, considered as a
rigid-plastic object meshed with more than 45,000
elements, is fully constrained on the lower and lateral
sides so it cannot move.

Figure 2: The experimental set-up for 3D tests

a)

b)

Figure 3: Observed flank (a) and crater wear (b) after 4

minutes (Vc=160m/min f=0.25 mm/rev)

Two tests were run changing the cutting velocity

(between two values, namely 150 and 160 m/min) and
the feed rate (also in this case between two values,
namely 0.17 and 0.25 mm/rev). The depth of cut was
fixed to 1.5 mm and the cutting operations were
conducted in dry conditions. Both flank and crater wear
were measured at different cutting times, using an
optical microscope (50X) equipped with a motorized
faceplate. All the experiments were repeated three times
showing an uncertainty of +/- 6-10% (95% confidence
interval). Figure 3 shows the typical flank and crater
wear observed during the 3D cutting operations; while

Figure 4: The 3D model

On the same faces thermal boundary conditions are set to

simulate the heat diffusion. The characteristic parameters
set for both the tool and the workpiece are reported in
Table 2. The friction was modelled considering a shear
factor equal to 0.82.
Finally, a physically-based model was adopted to
describe the heat global exchange, h, at the tool-chipworkpiece interfaces. In particular, Attanasio et al. [9]
related the coefficient h to the cutting parameters
(cutting speed ,VC, and feed rate, f):
2

h = 442 2.36 VC 7950 f + 0.0276 VC + 40600 f 2

(1)

and demonstrated the effectiveness of temperature

predictions.

Table 2: Geometry and material data

Parameter
Tool
angle
angle
angle
Material
Conductivity [W/m K]
Heat Capacity [J/m3 K]
Emissivity
Workpiece
Material
Conductivity [W/m K]
Heat Capacity [J/m3 K]
Emissivity

Values
0
7
90
WC
69
3.8106
0.45
AISI 1045 (Oxley equation)
Function of temperature
Function of temperature
0.75

3.2 3D SIMULATIVE STRATEGY

The adopted simulation strategy is schematized in the
flow chart of Figure 5. The iterative part of the
simulation strategy allows to represent the wear
development and growth in the FEM model.
Incremental
Lagrangian Model

Force Steady
State

Machining SteadyState (ALE)

Temperature
Steady State

Incremental
Lagrangian Model

Force and
Temperature
Steady State

Time=Fixed t
Wear Calculation Subroutine
No

Time=tend?
Yes
End

application of the implemented wear subroutine and run

for a constant simulation time t (1 minute) until
reaching the total simulation time. Before applying the
tool geometry updating sub-routine it is necessary to run
the Lagrangian simulation in order to identify the correct
temperature and force distributions as the tool wears. In
fact, the tool wear sub-routine changes the tool geometry
and this causes a change to temperature, pressure and
sliding velocity distribution and values.
The subroutine for tool geometry updating consists of
three phases. In the first phase the tool wear rate is
calculated, according to the adopted combined abrasive
and diffusive wear model, for each node of the tool mesh
boundary in contact with the chip. After that, the subroutine identifies the mesh nodes movement direction
finding, for each identified node, the connected elements
and determining the values of their three versor
components. At this point, the node movement direction
is obtained as vectorial sum of all the vectors of the
connected elements. The third phase initially updates the
tool mesh moving each boundary mesh node along the
corresponding movement direction for a distance equal
to the calculated wear. After that the software rebuilds
the tool geometry starting from the worn mesh.

4 RESULTS DISCUSSION
The results provided by the 3D simulation strategy for
tool geometry updating were compared with the
experimental ones in order to validate the 3D FE model
and simulation strategy. The attention was focused on
crater and flank wear prediction at the varying of cutting
velocity and feed rate for different cutting times.
Figure 6 shows the worn tool geometry as calculated by
the above described procedure. In particular, a section of
the tool is reported and the simulated tool wear after
6 minutes of cut with a cutting speed of 160 m/min and a
feed rate of 0.25 mm/rev is presented (VB: flank
characteristic parameter; KT and KM: crater characteristic
parameters).

Figure 5: 3D simulation strategy

Before to apply the tool geometry updating procedure it

is necessary to reach the thermo-mechanical steady state.
In fact, as already discussed, temperature, pressure and
sliding velocity at the interface between tool and chip are
the parameters utilized for calculating the tool wear. So,
a correct evaluation of their distribution and values on
the insert rake and flank surfaces is fundamental for a
correct tool wear analysis. For this reason an updated
Lagrangian formulation, which allows to reach the
mechanical steady state, is followed by an Eulerian
formulation run for reaching the thermal steady state.
By means of this simulation strategy the thermomechanical steady state is achieved in a shorter
simulation time. The output database of the ALE
simulation is the starting database for the tool wear
simulation.
As described in the loop of Figure 5, it consists of
consecutive Lagrangian simulations, followed by the

VB
A
A-A

KM

KT

Figure 6: Worn tool with flank and crater wear

parameters (VB, KT-KM).

Figure 7 reports the trend of simulated and experimental

crater wear (KT/KM) for the analyzed cases at different
cutting times. Observing these results it is evident the
good agreement.

Flank Tool wear, VB [mm]

0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0

Cutting Time [min]

Vc=150m/min - f=0.17mm/rev
Vc=150m/min - f=0.17mm/rev
Vc=160m/min - f=0.25mm/rev
Vc=160m/min - f=0.25mm/rev

- EXP
- NUM
- EXP
- NUM

Figure 7: Simulated and experimental crater wear as

function of cutting time

Furthermore, a better crater extension was obtained

using this adopted abrasive-diffusive wear model
(Figure 8a) instead of that observed when only the
diffusive wear mechanism was implemented (Figure 9b).
Therefore, as the present Authors stated in a recent work
[12], both the wear mechanisms (i.e. abrasion and
diffusive) must be considered and implemented in order
to obtain a good prediction of crater extension.

b)

a)

Flank Tool wear, VB [mm]

Figure 8: Experimental and simulated crater wear: a)

with the adopted abrasive-diffusive wear model b) only
diffusive wear implemented; (VC=160m/min,
f=0.25mm/rev, cutting time=6min)

0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0

2
3
4
Cutting Time [min]

Vc=160m/min - f=0.25mm/rev - EXP

Vc=160m/min - f=0.25mm/rev - NUM

Figure 9: Simulated and experimental flank wear as

function of cutting time (VC=160m/min, f=0.25mm/rev)

Finally, Figure 9 shows the trend of simulated and

experimental flank wear only for the case 160 m/min
0.25 mm/rev at different cutting times. It is important to

underline that it was not possible to define the flank wear

for the second test. This is because the FEM software
showed some limits in the correct definition of the toolworkpiece contact points along the tool flank surface. As
observable in Figure 9 the results are satisfactory, even if
improvements should be obtained calibrating the
abrasive model parameters by means of specific
experimental test and developing an ad-hoc sub routine
for contact estimation.

5 CONCLUSIONS
The paper reports the results obtained simulating the tool
wear development using a 3D FE model. In particular, a
new subroutine for tool wear calculation and tool mesh
and geometry updating was implemented in a
commercial 3D code. The obtained results showed a
good agreement with the experimental tests proving the
reliability of the developed procedure. For the future,
new efforts will be spent to improve the flank wear
prediction by developing an ad-hoc sub routine for
contact estimation.

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