ANALYSIS OF THE MACHINING PROCESS OF SINTERED BRONZE

The machining process observed during orthogonal cutting tests for sin tered bronze of 11%, 23% and 33% porosity is analyzed. Each step of th e machining process, that is, compaction due to the indentation by a c utting tool, the shear local to the tip of the tool and the fracture n ear the chip root are simulated by a mechanical model based on classic al theories of indentation, machining and fracture. The presented mode ls make it possible to predict the several behaviors of the machining, such as the types of chip formation, maximum cutting pressure and chi p wave length. Good agreement between the experimental results and the predictions is found.