Finite Element Modeling and Cutting Simulation of Inconel 718

E. Uhlmann (2), M. Graf von der Schulenburg, R. Zettier

Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF)
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Abstract
Segmented chips are often found in high-speed-cutting. This type of chip formation can be traced back to
adiabatic shear bands. The reference workpiece material is the Nickel-based alloy Inconel 718, which shows
an affinity to segmented chip formation. A realistic simulation of the chip formation and of the related cutting
forces and chip temperatures serve to better process understanding. By implementing a material model into
the FE-simulation which besides strain, strain rate and temperature includes ductile damage, a realistic
description of the material behavior becomes possible. The results of the experiments and of the 2D- and 3D-
simulations correlate well.

Keywords:
Turning, Chip formation, Finite Element Method

1 INTRODUCTION SiC whisker reinforced oxide ceramic of the type CC670,

In the past decade the essential fundamentals for an
industrial implementation of High-Speed-Cutting (HSC)
have been developed. The increase of the cutting speed
involves an augmentation of the material removal rate
and an improvement of the workpiece surface [1]. In this
paper the Nickel-based alloy Inconel 718 (IN 718) in a
solution annealed state is examined. IN 718 shows an
affinity to form segmented chips which is typical for HSC-
machining [2,3]. The formation of segmented chips is
ascribed to the appearance of shear instabilities during
machining [4]. There are multiple surveys and models to
describe this phenomenon [4-8].
The finite element method (FEM) is often used to obtain
knowledge about the forces and the temperatures
occurring during the cutting process and also about the
inducement on the emerging workpiece recast layer
[9-12]. Since the chip formation mechanisms have a
significant influence on the forces appearing in the cutting
process a particular importance is ascribed to the
simulation of the chip segmentation in this paper. The
material law used was developed by the Federal Institute
for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Division
Mechanical Behaviour, in collaboration with the Institute
for Experimental Physics of the Otto-von-Guericke-
University Magdeburg (IEP).
2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
For an assessment of the cutting simulations
experimental testings have been carried out. A
description of these tests as well as their results can be
found in [13,14]. At this point only the experimental
boundary conditions are described.
The experimental cutting forces shown in section 4.3 of
this paper have been obtained in external cylindrical
turning. The depth of cut was ap = 0.5 mm with a feed of
f = 0.1 mm/REV. The cutting force vc has been varied
between 200 m/min and 800 m/min. The experimental
working geometry has been a result of combining the
indexable insert type SNGN 120708 T01020 with the
insert holder type CSSN L 2020M12. The tool orthogonal
rake angle was Jo = -6° and the tool cutting edge angle Nr
was 45°. The indexable inserts had a protection chamfer
with a chamfer angle of 20° and the cutting material was a
produced by SANDVIK, Sweden. According to the
simulations the tests were carried out in dry cutting.
IN 718 was used in a solution annealed state as
workpiece material in all experiments.
3 MATERIAL LAW
For the description of the deformation localization during
high speed load the model of Johnson and Cook [15]
(equ. 1) turned out to be appropriate because of its
viscoplastic flowing regulation in the form of an
exponential function.
§ § T T · m ·ª § p ·º
ı v ( A  B p n )¨¨1  ¨¨ R ¸ ¸
¸ ¸ «1  C ln¨¨ ¸¸» (1)
¨ © T M T R ¹ ¸¬« © H0 ¹¼»
© ¹
with the equivalent stress Vv, the plastic equivalent
strain p, the plastic equivalent strain rate p , the melting
temperature TM as well as the initial temperature TR. The
material parameters H 0 , A, B, C, n and m of the
Johnson-Cook-model [16] are listed in Table 1.
variable H 0 A B C n m
unit 1/s MPa MPa
value 1.001 450 1700 0.017 0.65 1.3
Table 1: Johnson Cook material parameters
In order to be able to measure the temperatures
appearing in the shear bands in situ and to carry out
investigations at the chip root, the IEP performed analogy
HSC-experiments with the SHPB-technique [17].
The temperatures T calculated by the BAM with 2D-
cutting simulations regarding the material law described in
(equ. 1) amounted to 1000 °C and more. Compared to
the measured temperatures the calculated ones were too
high [16]. The flow stress of the examined Nickel-based
alloy declines by 30 % at the most during high speed
deformation (yield rate 10³/s in the range of
homogeneous deformation) in the temperature range
from 550 °C to 1000 °C [18]. Thus no serious decrease of
stiffness appears up to 1000 °C in this workpiece material
during high speed load due to thermal softening only.

Annals of the CIRP Vol. 56/1/2007 -61- doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2007.05.017

Therefore, there has to be another failure mechanism
than the thermal softening during the formation of shear
bands, which leads to an early decrease of stiffness. The
plastic power reduced by the failure mechanism would
impede such a temperature boost. A loss of load-carrying
capacity up to the total stiffness decay is called ductile
damage. Therefore, a model for the ductile damage
during high speed load was created [18].
According to the mathematical concept of Lemaitre [19],
equation 1 was expanded by a term which contains the
degree of the ductile damage D:
§ § T T ·m ·ª
§ p ·º
ıv ( A B pn )¨¨1 ¨¨ R ¸ ¸
carried out previously – an undeformed chip thickness of
h = 0.072 mm. The tool orthogonal rake angle was
Jo = -6°. The chamfer of the cutting edge mentioned in
section 2 has been disregarded in the modeling process
to ease the start of the simulation. Regarding the
simulation the tool has been modelled as a rigid body.
There was no heat exchange between the workpiece
material and the tool or its environment.
The following paragraph includes the main characteristics
of the ABAQUS-models. ABAQUS/Explicit presupposes
the use of an elastic-plastic material behaviour. With
regard to the simulations described in [16] only the chip
volume has been taken into consideration. Twelve
¸ ¸ «1 C ln¨¨ ¸¸»1 D (2) element layers represented the undeformed chip
¨ © T M T R ¹ ¸¬« © H0 ¹¼»
thickness. The height of an element was 6 μm. The
© ¹ bottom layer, which was based on the material model
described in equation 1, could be deleted because of a
A direct nonlinear approach for the design of the degree strain- and geometry dependent criterion. With regard to
of ductile damage [20] depending on a standardized inner the stability of the simulation, the degree of damage
time s, which describes the usage of lifetime [18], was allowed was limited to a maximum of D = 0.8. The choice
chosen: of the damage parameters and the the critical plastic work
Wc for the smallest element edge length of 6 μm shown in
D sk (3) Table 2 was made according to [18].
The equation for the development of the inner time is:
variable D ȗ1 ȗ2 k a H1 Wc
a
§ V · V v ,eff § p · unit [1/s] [MPa]
s exp ¨¨ 9 V m  m ¸¸ ¨¨1  ¸¸ p (4a)
2·104
© V v ¹ Wc © H1 ¹
value 0.8 1 2 18 0.13 3000
Table 2: Damage parameters in 2D-ABAQUS simulations
Vv The following paragraph deals with the particularities of
V v,eff (4b) the DEFORM-model. DEFORM 2D is an implicite FEM-
1 D programme. The models include a rigid-plastic material
behaviour. The realisation of the material separation
process via a permanent remeshing necessitates a
­°9 , when V m ! 0
9 V m  : ® 1 (4c) consideration of the emerging workpiece recast layer.
°̄9 2 , when V m  0 Therefore, the tool model assumed a rounding of the
cutting edge of rH = 10 μm. With the help of Mesh Density
Windows it is possible to mesh the chip formation zone in
1 more detail. The smallest element edge length was in this
Vm V 11  V 22  V 33  (4d)
3 conclusion, that the frequency of the remeshing if
with the effective equivalent stress Vv,eff, the damage
parameters D, k, ȗ1, ȗ2, a and H1, the critical plastic
work Wc, a third of the trace of the stress tensor Vm, the
normal stresses V1, V2 and V3. Using the material law
expanded by the ductile damage the temperatures in the
shear bands as well as the dependency of the cutting
forces on the cutting speed established by the BAM could
be calculated [18]. The description of the localization due
to ductile damage becomes possible by the adjustment of
the damage parameters to the smallest element
dimension in the FE-net. This offers the possibility to
solve problems more efficiently by using larger elements.
This is particularly of interest concerning 3D-calculations.
4 SIMULATIONS
4.1 2D-Simulations
For simulating the cutting process there are two different
FEM-programmes available at the IWF: ABAQUS/Explicit
V. 6.4 and DEFORM 2D V. 8.1. In both programmes the
material law with ductile damage had been implemented.
However, each programme presupposed a unique
approach to model the simulation of the chip formation
process. Regarding ABAQUS/Explicit, the separation
process is based on the deletion of elements. Regarding
DEFORM, the same process has been realized by a
permanent remeshing.
The simulations described in the following paragraphs
had – in relation to the external cylindrical turning tests
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case about 7 μm to 10 μm, too. Pretests led to the
considering the ductile damage indeed has an influence
on the simulated chip segmentation. Possibly this is the
case due to the high gradients of the ductile damage in
the workpiece. The degree of ductile damage D is
calculated and stored for each separate element and for
each time unit. When the data of D are transferred from
the old to the new element mesh, possibly an averaging
of the values is performed. Therefore, the clear damage
of the material and in turn the chip segmentation is
delayed. For this reason, the critical plastic work has been
set to a value of Wc = 2100 MPa in this case. The degree
of ductile damage that was tolerable at maximum was
D = 0.95.
Figure 1 shows the simulated chip formation with both
FEM-programmes. In both cases the formation of a
continuous chip is detectable at cutting speeds of
vc = 100 m/min and vc = 200 m/min. At vc = 400 m/min the
formation of segmental chips was outright detectable. In
further simulations with cutting speeds of up to
vc = 1000 m/min segmental chip formation occurred
throughout. Hoffmeister found in his investigations, that
cutting IN 718 at cutting speeds of under vc = 180 m/min
leads to a rather large ratio of continuous chip formation.
Above vc = 180 m/min there was segmental chip
formation [2]. Komanduri found for IN 718 – however, in
fully aged state –, that above a cutting speed of
vc = 61 m/min one experiences an intensive formation of
segmental chips [3].
 The bottom nodes of the failure element layer in the
emerging workpiece surface are constrained in direction 1
whereas these nodes are able to move freely in direction
2 and 3. Therefore, the chip can expand in the direction of
the width of the undeformed chip. In [9], a tool model with
a stagnation region has been presented for the simulation
with a large tool orthogonal rake angle. According to the
stagnation region, the additional auxiliary plane at the tool
tip is designed to facilitate a sliding of the nodes at the
chip bottom along the rake face. A further feature of 3D-
modeling was the symmetry plane. The nodes included
here, have been constrained in direction 3. The chip
volume was made of only eight element layers which
means an element height of 9 μm. Therefore, in this case,
the critical plastic work was set to a value of
Wc = 2400 MPa.
Figure 3 contains the simulated chip forms at different
cutting speeds vc. At vc = 100 m/min a continuous chip
formation was seen whereas at vc = 200 m/min the
formation development of a segmental chip denoted.
Beginning at a cutting speed of vc = 200 m/min only
segmental chips could be found. Also a distinct chip
widening was identified.

Figure 1: 2D-simulations
4.2 3D-Simulations
The 3D-simulation represents an orthogonal cut. Basically
the assumptions made in section 4.1 regarding the
modeling with ABAQUS/Explicit appeared to be correct.
However, the 3D-models have been enlarged to include
the workpiece material. Furthermore, the tool orthogonal
rake angle was Jo = 0°, whereas the tool’s chamfer was
taken into account. In addition to the rake face the models
included two further rigid bodies in the form of planes
(Fig. 2). Plane A is supposed to prevent nodes of the chip
volume from entering into the workpiece. Plane B is
supposed to shorten the initial chip formation procedure
and to stabilise the computation.

Figure 3: Chip formation simulated with ABAQUS at

different cutting speeds
4.3 Comparison of the simulated forces with
experimental forces
To be able to compare the calculated cutting forces with
the measured ones the specific cutting forces were
consulted. To determine the simulated specific cutting
forces the integral average was computed. In the case of
the formation of segmental chips the integration of the
cutting force took place over the time of the formation of
one or more segments. After that the quotient of the
integral and the time fragment was calculated.
Figure 4 shows the dependency between the specific
cutting force and the cutting speed for the experiment and
the simulations. All cases show a decrease of the specific
cutting force with increasing cutting speed. In the
simulations the largest decrease of the cutting force
happens at the changeover from a continuous chip to a
segmented chip. The specific cutting force in the
ABAQUS simulations is almost constant at higher cutting
Figure 2: Layout of the 3D-model for orthogonal cutting

-63-
speeds whereas it shows a further decrease in the
DEFORM simulations. The curve progression of the
experimental forces indicates an almost constant level of
the cutting force at high cutting speeds as well. This
correlates with the observations of Hoffmeister [2].
Figure 4: Comparison of the specific cutting forces
5 CONCLUSIONS
The simulations using the described material law depicted
the chip formation of IN 718 as well as the occurring
cutting forces in both qualitative and quantitative terms
well for a broad range of the cutting speed. The
differences of the cutting forces in different simulations
can be ascribed to differences concerning the modeling.
The integration of the tool chamfer into the
3D-simulations led to problems which could only be
solved with an additional modeling effort. Statements
about the state of stress could not be made for reasons
relating to the geometrical boundary conditions.
A predefinition of the damage parameters for the
DEFORM simulations turned out to be difficult since
estimating the influence of remeshing on the ductile
damage development is rather problematic. The problems
described will be among the main focuses of the modeling
of cutting processes at the IWF.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
of the German Science Foundation (DFG) and would like
to thank very much Prof. Clos, Dr. Schreppel and Dr. Veit
from the IEP for conducting the SHPB-Tests and the
microstructural investigations as well as Dr. Sievert,
Dr. Hamann and Mr. Noack from the BAM for
investigating the temperature dependency of the flow
stress and developing the material model accordingly.
We also thank the staff of the German High-Performance
Computer Center North (HLRN) for the allocation of
calculating time contingents and for the continuous
attendance and the support in the solution of problems.
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