FEM thermo-mechanical simulation of the free orthogonal cutting and temperature distribution in tool and workpiece

Temperature distribution in tools, chips, and workpieces and heat flux play a major role in metal cutting. The temperature field in a tool has an essential effect on the tool wear and life, at the same time the workpiece temperature influences the product quality. However, temperature measurement during metal cutting requires considerable efforts and quite often is not feasible due to the manufacturing conditions. The current paper suggests using a well-known numerical method, finite element method (FEM), for cutting simulation taking into account heat generation due to plastic deformation. The obtained results are compared to infrared camera pictures by other authors to validate the approach. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.