Chapter 1: Mechanics of metal cutting: Mechanism of chip formation, Orthogonal & Oblique

cutting, types of chips, built-up edge, Determination of shear plane angle, forces on the chips,
forces in orthogonal cutting, Merchant circle diagram and analysis, Theory of Lee & Shaffer, co-
efficient of friction, power & energy relationship, velocity relationship, shear-strain, factors
affecting forces and power, problems.
Metal cutting or machining is the process of by removing unwanted material from a block of
metal in the form of chips. Machinability is defined as the ease with which a material can be
satisfactorily machined. The sheared material begins to along the cutting tool face in the form of
small pieces is called chip.

Machining material removal by a sharp cutting tool, e.g., turning, milling, drilling

Abrasive processes material removal by hard, abrasive particles, e.g., grinding

Nontraditional processes - various energy forms other than sharp cutting tool to remove material
Machining is a process of gradual removal of excess material from the preformed blanks in the
form of chips. The form of machined chips depend mainly upon
Work material
Material and geometry of the cutting tool
Levels of cutting velocity and feed and also to some extent on depth of cut
Temperature and friction at the chip-tool and work-tool interfaces.
Cutting fluid flow, type, velocity
Time consuming - A machining operation generally takes more time to shape a given part than
alternative shaping processes, such as casting, powder metallurgy, or forming
Knowledge of basic mechanism(s) of chip formation helps to understand the characteristics of
chips and to attain favourable chip forms.
Mechanism of chip formation in machining ductile materials
During continuous machining the uncut layer of the work material just ahead of the cutting tool
is subjected to compression.
Due to such compression, shear stress develops, If shear stress reaches or exceeds the shear
strength of that work material in the deformation region, yielding or slip takes place resulting
shear deformation in that region as shown in Fig.1

Fig 1
Mechanism of chip formation in ductile material.
Continuous chips are formed in machining ductile material such as mild steel, wrought iron,
copper and aluminum. Basically this operation is one of shearing the work material to form the
chip and sliding of the chip along the face of the cutting tool. The formation of chip takes place
in zone extending from the tool cutting edge to the junction between the surfaces of the chip and
work piece: This zone is known as primary deformation zone. To deform the material in this
manner the forces must be transmitted to chip across the interface between the chip and tool are
sufficient to deform the lower layers of chip as it slides along the tool face (secondary
deformation zone) as shown in Fig. 2

Fig.2
Mechanism of chip formation in machining brittle materials
The basic two mechanisms involved in chip formation are
Yielding generally for ductile materials
Brittle fracture generally for brittle materials
During machining, first a small crack develops at the tool tip as shown in Fig. due to wedging
action of the cutting edge. At the sharp crack-tip stress concentration takes place. In case of
ductile materials immediately yielding takes place at the crack-tip and reduces the effect of stress
concentration and prevents its propagation as crack. But in case of brittle materials the initiated
crack quickly propagates, under stressing action, and total separation takes place from the parent
work piece through the minimum resistance path as shown in Fig.3. Cutting action involves
shear deformation of work material to form a chip as chip is removed, a new surface is exposed

Fig.3
Machining of brittle material produces discontinuous chips and mostly of irregular size and
shape. The process of forming such chips is schematically shown in Fig.4.
(a) separation (b) swelling (c) further swelling (d) separation (e) swelling
again Fig.4.

orthogonal cutting oblique cutting

Orthogonal Ex: Lathe cut-off operation,

Straight milling, etc.
Cutting edge of the tool is perpendicular to
the direction of tool travel
The direction of chip flow is perpendicular to
the cutting edge
The chip coils in a tight flat spiral
Produces sharp corners.
Here only two components of the forces are
acting: cuttting force and thrust force. So the
metal cutting may be considered as two
dimensional cutting.
.
Cutting edge of the tool is inclined to
the direction of tool travel
The direction of chip flow is angled to
the cutting edge
The chip flows sideways in a long.
Produces chamfer at the end of cut.
Here three components of forces are acting :
cutting force , radial for ce and thrust force. So
metal cutting may be considered as three
dimensional cutting.
The cutting edge being oblique, the shear force
acts on a larger area and tool life is increased.
 Orthogonal Cutting Oblique Cutting

Cutting forces The force system in general case of conventional turning process

Fig.5
The largest magnitude is the vertical force Fc which in turning is larger than feed force Ff, and Ff is
larger than radial force Fr is as shown in Fig.5
For orthogonal cutting system Fr is made zero ( = 0) by placing the face of cutting tool at 90
degree to the line of action of the tool.
 Fig.6.
All metal cutting operations involve a wedge shaped tool with a straight cutting edge, having a
relative velocity with reference to the work piece, contributing to chip formation. For analytical
purpose, cutting operations are classified as Oblique cutting and orthogonal cutting. Oblique
cutting is the most common type, normally found in several machining operations. The cutting
edge is inclined to the normal to cutting velocity vector by an angle called the inclination angle.
This type of cutting is also called three dimensional cutting due to forces raised in three directions
perpendicular to one another is as shown in Fig.6.
Orthogonal cutting is a special kind of cutting where the cutting edge is normal to cutting velocity
vector. Being a two dimensional problem in view of forces in two perpendicular directions, where
the number independent variables are reduced, this type of cutting is used for research purposes.
Different types of chips of various shape, size, colour etc. are produced by machining depending
upon
type of cut, i.e., continuous (turning, boring etc.) or intermittent cut (milling)
work material (brittle or ductile etc.)
cutting tool geometry (rake, cutting angles etc.)
levels of the cutting velocity and feed (low, medium or high)
cutting fluid (type of fluid and method of application)
The basic major types of chips and the conditions generally under which such types of chips
form are given below:
Often in machining ductile metals at high speed, the chips are deliberately broken into small
segments of regular size and shape by using chip breakers mainly for convenience and reduction
of chip-tool contact length.
Four Basic Types of Chip in Machining
1. Continuous chip
2. Continuous chip with Built-up Edge (BUE)
3 Discontinuous chip
4 Serrated chip
 f
Fig.7.
Continuous Chip(Fig.7)
Ductile work materials (e.g., low carbon steel)
High cutting speeds
Small feeds and depths
Sharp cutting edge on the tool
Low tool-chip friction
Rake angle positive and large
Cutting fluid both cooling and lubricating
This leaves the tool as a long ribbon and is common when cutting most ductile materials such as
mild steel, copper and Aluminium. It is associated with good tool angles, correct speeds and
feeds, and the use of cutting fluid.

Mechanism of Built-up-Edge (BUE)

In machining ductile metals like steels with long chip-tool contact length, lot of stress and
temperature develops in the secondary deformation zone at the chip-tool interface. Under such
high stress and temperature in between two clean surfaces of metals, strong bonding may locally
take place due to adhesion similar to welding. The presence of this welded material increase the
friction and temperature between chip and tool interface and leads to building of layer upon layer
of chip material. This resulting pile of material is referred to as build up edge. (BUE).
Often the buildup edge continues to grow and then breaks down when it becomes unstable, the
broken pieces being carried away by the underside of the chip an new work piece surface. A
study of build up edge formation in metal cutting is most important as it is one of the main factor
affecting surface finish and can have a considerable influence on cutting tool wear.
Effects of BUE formation
Formation of BUE causes several harmful effects, such as:
Changes the rake angle at the tool tip causing increase in cutting forces and power
consumption
Repeated formation and dislodgement of the BUE causes fluctuation in cutting forces and
thus induces vibration which is harmful for the tool, job and the machine tool.
Surface finish gets deteriorated
May reduce tool life by accelerating tool-wear at its rake surface by adhesion and flaking
Continuous with BUE(Fig.8)
Ductile materials
Low-to-medium cutting speeds
Tool-chip friction causes portions of chip to adhere to rake face
 BUE formation is cyclical; it forms, then breaks off
- feed medium or large
- cutting fluid inadequate or absent.

Overgrowing and overflowing of BUE

causing surface roughness
Fig.8
Discontinuous chips or segmented(Fig.9)
Brittle work materials (e.g., cast irons like grey cast iron )
Low cutting speeds
Large feed and depth of cut
High tool-chip friction
- tool rake negative
- cutting fluid absent or inadequate
Favorable factors for discontinuous chip formation: Machining of brittle materials,. Small
rake angle, Higher depth of cut , low cutting speeds, Excess cutting fluid, Cutting ductile
materials with low speed and small rake angle of the tool.

Fig.9
Serrated Chip(Fig.10)
Semi continuous - saw-tooth appearance
Cyclical chip formation of alternating high shear strain then low shear strain
Most closely associated with difficult-to-machine metals at high cutting speeds
 Fig.10
The forces acting on the chip in orthogonal cutting:
Assumptions: No contact at flank, i.e. the tool is perfectly sharp
No side flow of chips, i.e., width of the chips remains constant
Uniform cutting velocity
A continuous chip is produced with no BUE
The chip is considered to be held in equilibrium by the action of the two equal and opposite
resultant forces and assume that resultant is collinear.
Assuming that the cutting action is continuous we can develop a continuous model of cutting
conditions.
Orthogonal Cutting - assumes that the cutting edge of the tool is set in a position that is
perpendicular to the direction of relative work or tool motion. This allows us to deal with forces
that act only in one plane.

The cutting forces in the figure below (Fc and Ft) are measured using a tool force dynamometer
mounted on the lathe.
1 = undeformed chip thickness
2 = deformed chip thickness (usually2 > 1)
If we are using in the lathe 1 is the feed per revolution
Merchants Circle Diagram The following is a circle diagram. Known as Merchants circle
diagram, which is convenient to determine the relation between the various forces and angles. In
the diagram two force triangles have been combined and R and R together have been replaced
by R. the force R can be resolved into two components Fc and Ft.

Fs = Shear Force, which acts along the shear plane, is the resistance to shear of the metal in
forming the chip.
Fn = Force acting normal to the shear plane, is the backing up force on the chip provided by the
work piece.
F = Frictional resistance of the tool acting against the motion of the chip as it moves upward
along the tool.
N = Normal to the chip force, is provided by the tool.
The rake angle () can be measured from the tool, and forces F and N can then be determined.
The shear angle () can be obtained from its relation with chip reduction coefficient. Now Fs &
Fn can also be determined.

Having seen the vector based determination of the cutting forces, we can now look at equivalent
calculations. The co-
efficient of friction

() = =
1 = 2 = ( )
1
= = =
2 ( ) +

( + ) =

. + . =
. .
+ = 1
sin
. .
= 1 . , therefore tan =
tan .

Relationship of various forces acting on the chip with the horizontal and vertical cutting force
diagram

Frictional force system

by trigonometry

F=OA =CB =CG + GB, F= sin +

N =AB =OD CD = OD GE, N= cos

 + cos
The co-efficient of friction () = = = tan

Cos ( ) = , = R Cos ( ) , Sin ( ) = , = Sin ( )

Shear force system

= OA = OB AB = OB CD , =

= = + = + , =

Also = ( + )

Also : = tan( + )

Cos ( )= , =Cos ( )

Sin ( )= , = Sin (

The procedure to construct a merchants force circle diagram (using drafting

techniques/instruments) is,

1. Set up x-y axis labeled with forces, and the origin in the centre of the page. The scale should be
enough to include both the measured forces. The cutting force (Fc) is drawn horizontally, and the
 tangential force (Ft) is drawn vertically. (These forces will all be in the lower left hand quadrant)
(Note: square graph paper and equal x & y scales are essential)
2. Draw in the resultant (R) of Fc and Ft.
3. Locate the centre of R, and draw a circle that encloses vector R. If done correctly, the heads and tails
of all 3 vectors will lie on this circle.
4. Draw in the cutting tool in the upper right hand quadrant, taking care to draw the correct rake angle
() from the vertical axis.
5. Extend the line that is the cutting face of the tool (at the same rake angle) through the circle. This now
gives the friction vector (F).
6. A line can now be drawn from the head of the friction vector, to the head of the resultant vector (R).
This gives the normal vector (N). Also add a friction angle () between vectors R and N. As a
side note recall that any vector can be broken down into components. Therefore, mathematically,
R = Fc + Ft = F + N.
7. We next use the chip thickness, compared to the cut depth to find the shear force. To do this, the chip
is drawn on before and after cut. Before drawing, select some magnification factor (e.g., 200
times) to multiply both values by. Draw a feed thickness line (t1) parallel to the horizontal axis.
Next draw a chip thickness line parallel to the tool cutting face.
8. Draw a vector from the origin (tool point) towards the intersection of the two chip lines, stopping at
the circle. The result will be a shear force vector (Fs). Also measure the shear force angle
between Fs and Fc.
9. Finally add the shear force normal (Fn) from the head of Fs to the head of R.
10. Use a scale and protractor to measure off all distances (forces) and angles.

The resulting diagram is pictured below,

Velocity Relationship: The velocities are also important, and can be calculated for later use in
power calculations. The Velocity diagram below can also be drawn to find cutting velocities.

Using sine rule

because

Where = cutting velocity (as set or measured on the machine), = Shearing velocity,
= frictional velocity

A final note of interest to readers not completely familiar with vectors, the forces Fc and Ft, are
used to find R, from that two other sets of equivalent forces are found.,
Ernest and Merchant (1941) found that the shear angle is of fundamental importance. They
found that shear angle sets itself to result in the force being the minimum for the ruling
conditions (, )

We know that = R Cos ( ), R = Cos ()

= Cos ( + ), R= Cos ( +)

Cos ()
Equating, Cos () = Cos ( +) , = Cos ( +)

Maximum shear stress ( ) = , c/s Area of the uncut surface (AO ) = 1 1

( )
Sin = , = , = = =

sin
=

= = , = substitute this value in the above equation

Cos () Cos ()
= Cos ( +)
= Cos ( +)

shear angle , which required a minimum force to cut the material. Appying this
condition, differentiating equation wrt , and equating to zero, the above Fc equation to
be minimum, sin Cos ( + ) must be a maximum

= 0, Cos ( + + ) = 0, 2 + = cos -1(0) = 2

= + =
()
In 1944 Merchant found that this theory fitted well when (cutting) turning certain non
metallic materials (synthetic plastics), but did not agree when working with steel. He
concluded that for metals the shear assumption made was unreliable and that the shear
strength was in some way dependent on the normal stress acting at the shear plane. He
therefore modified his theory by assuming that the shear and normal stresses were related in
the form
= +
Where = , , =Constants for the material = normal
stress = equation indicate that shear strength of the material increases linearly with
increase in normal stress on shear plane

= 1 tan(+ ) Substitute this value of in the following equation.
 Cos () Cos ()
We know that = =
Cos ( +) 1 tan( + ) Cos ( +)
0 , , ,
0 ,

By differentiation to minimize as before = 0, we get 2 + = C
Where C = 1 k called machining constant for a given work material it is dependent on
rate of change of shear strength of the metal with applied compressive stress and accounts for
The results obtained by the above relation were somewhat closer to the experimental

values as compared to the equation ( = 4 2 + 2 )
Popular metal cutting theories:

Theory of Ernest and Merchant(1944)

Ernest and Merchant gave the relation:

Assumptions of the theory:

Tool edge is sharp.
The work material undergoes deformation across a thin shear plane.
There is uniform distribution of normal and shear stress on the shear plane.
The work material is rigid and perfectly plastic.
The shear angle adjusts itself to give minimum work.
The friction angle remains constant and is independent of .
The chip width remains constant
 = cos( + ), R = sec ( ), = sec ( ) cos( + ),

sec() cos(+)
= , where =sin 0 =
0

They have assumed that adjusts itself to give minimum work. And for a given set of cutting
condition, to, w and are all constants. They also assumed that is independent of .
Metal cutting theories: Earnst - Merchant theory
Earnst and Merchant have developed a relationship between the shear angle (), the cutting rake
angle (), and the angle of friction () as follows:
2 + = C where C is a machining constant for the work material dependent on the rate of
change of the shear strength of the metal with applied compressive stress, besides taking the
internal coefficient of friction into account.
Modified - Merchant theory
According to this theory the relation between the shear angle, the cutting rake angle , and the
angle of friction as follows:
1
= 42 +2 , = 4 2 ( )
Shear will take place in a direction in which energy required for shearing is minimum.
Shear stress is maximum at the shear plane and it remains constant.
Lee and Shaffers theory
This theory analysis the process of orthogonal metal cutting by applying the theory of plasticity
for an ideal rigid plastic material. The principle assumptions are:
i) The work piece material ahead of the cutting tool behaves like an ideal plastic material.
ii) The deformation of the metal occurs on a single shear plane.
iii) This is a stress field within the produced chip which transmits the cutting force from the
shear plane to the tool face and therefore, the chip does not get hardened.
iv) The chip separates from the parent material at the shear plane.
Based on this, they developed a slip line field for stress zone, in which no deformation would
occur even if it is stressed to its yield point. From this, they derived the following relationship.

= +
 () ()+() (())
= +- = =() =()
() ()

shear strain = shear angle = rake angle =

Specific Energy:

A large number of researchers have been working on various aspects of metal cutting for over
100 years all over the world

FACTORS INFLUENCING ESTIMATION OF CUTTING FORCES

The cutting forces in metal cutting depend upon several factors. The influence of each factor is
discussed below in brief
.Work material- The cutting forces vary to a great extent depending upon the physical and
mechanical properties of the material. Tangential force can be determined by multiplying the
chip cross-section with the specific cutting resistance offered by the work material, which is
found to be decreasing with increasing chip thickness and increases with increase in tensile
strength and hardness of the material being cut.
Cutting speed- The tangential force Ft varies with increase in cutting speed. It will be noted that
the cutting forces first increase with increase in cutting speed and on further increase in speed
reach a maximum value and start decreasing and become fairly stabilized at higher speed ranges.
The initial rise in cutting force up to about 70 m/min is due to the effect of built-up edge which
does not occur at high speeds. The cutting forces at high speeds beyond 70 m/min decreases
because of high temperature involved which tend to make the material plastic.
Feed- The tangential component of cutting force is greatly influenced by the feed rate. It has
been observed that cutting force changes linearly with feed at higher speeds, but at slower speeds
the change is exponential.

Depth of cut- The tangential component Ft increases in the same proportion as the depth of cut,
if the ratio of depth and feed is more than four.
Tool approach angle- The chip size is dependent upon the approach angle. The tangential
component Fc is more or less constant within the range 900 to 550 and increases slightly for
approach angles less than 550. Axial component Fc is maximum for approach angle of 900 and
decreases with decrease in approach angle. Radial component Fr is minimum for approach angle
of 900 and increases with decrease in approach angle.
Side rake angle- All the three components of cutting forces decreases as side rake angle
changes from ve value to +ve value ; the tangential component alone being predominant for +ve
side rake angles and other two being negligible. However for higher ve values, both Fc and Fi
are considerable and thus result in vibrations. For negative side rake angle component F
increases due to higher plastic deformation of chips and increased friction in the tool-chip
interface. This type of variation is not so marked at higher speeds as at lower speeds.
Back rake angle- It controls the direction of chip flow either away from or towards the work
piece depending upon whether it is +ve or ve. The vertical component Pz increases slightly as
the back rake angle increases from ve value to +ve value.
Flank wear- The tangential component Ft as well as Fc and Py increase considerably with
increase in flank wear.
Power consumed in cutting (P) = FcV where V= Cutting speed m/min

FcV
P= Nm/sec = watt
60