Modelling of temperature and forces when orthogonally machining hardened steel

This paper initially considers heat generation in single-point metal cuttin g and the direct/indirect techniques employed to measure cutting temperatur es. The development of analytical models of the cutting process is briefly reviewed, including more recent work involving finite element (FE) methods. Details are given of the different FE packages and formulation methods use d by different researchers. Following on from this, an FE model is presente d using FORGE 2(R) to simulate cutting forces and temperature distributions when orthogonal turning a hardened hot work die steel, AISI H13 (52HRC), w ith polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tooling. Experimental data f rom infrared chip surface temperature measurements and cutting force output are used to validate the model. Good correlation was obtained between expe rimental and modelled results for temperature; however, the FE analysis und erestimated feed force results due to a lack of adequate workpiece property data and simplistic tool/chip friction assumptions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.