A finite element model of high speed metal cutting with adiabatic shearing Martin B€ aker * , Joachim R€ osler, Carsten Siemers 1 Institut f€ ur Werkstoffe, Technische Universit€ at Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 8, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany Received 16 March 2001; accepted 9 January 2002 Abstract A finite element model of a two-dimensional orthogonal cutting process is developed. The simulation uses standard finite element software together with a special mesh generator that is able to mesh the chip completely with regular quadrilateral elements and a strong mesh refinement in the shear zone for continuous and segmented chips. The techniques of remeshing and to ensure convergence of the implicit calculation is described. Results for the formation of segmented chips are presented and the segmentation process is studied. Of special interest is the occurrence of split shear bands. The influence of the elastic properties and of the cutting speed is also discussed. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Machining; Finite elements; Remeshing; Chip segmentation; Adiabatic shear bands 1. Introduction Titanium alloys like Ti6Al4V are widely used in aerospace and other industrial applications. A large fraction of the production costs for components made of these alloys is due to machining. The design of titanium alloys with better machinability is therefore a worth- while research aim. To achieve this, it is necessary to identify the im- portant material parameters that critically influence the machinability of the material. This can be done by parameter studies using finite element computer simu- lations. Once the most promising design avenues are determined, the actual alloy modification can be done, which is thus only the final step of the material design process. This approach is similar to the standard CAE production cycle, where only a few prototypes are built. Creating a reliable computer model of the metal cutting process is the first and crucial step in this pro- cess. In this paper, we describe such a model in some detail. It uses standard finite element software for the calculations, thus ensuring portability and flexibility. As the requirements on the meshing algorithm are quite strong, a special preprocessor has been developed, which is programmed in Cþþ and is thus also portable to different platforms. The paper is organized as follows: after a short de- scription of the requirements on the model in Section 2, the details of the finite element model are given in Sec- tion 3. Some results produced with the model are shown in Section 4, focussing on the details of the chip for- mation process. Section 5 summarizes the work and points out future research aims. 2. The problem In the metal cutting process material is removed from thesurfaceoftheworkpiecebyacuttingtoolandachipis formed. The problem involves large plastic deformations Computers and Structures 80 (2002) 495–513 www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruc * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: martin.baeker@tu-bs.de (M. B€ aker), j.roesler@tu-bs.de (J. R€ osler), c.siemers@tu-bs.de (C. Siemers). 1 Work supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. 0045-7949/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0045-7949(02)00023-8