Investigations on Cutting Force and Temperature Field of Pick Cutter Based on Single Factor and Orthogonal Test Methods

Understanding the cutting performance is the focus for optimizing the design and manufacture of roadheaders applied for construction and mining. In this present study, the stress and temperature fields of pick cutters with different structural parameters (tip curvature and cutter taper) are investigated using an extended finite element model. The results indicate that the cutting force and the maximum temperature are greatly influenced by structural parameters and working parameters. An optimum ratio of cutting space to cutting depth at around 3 is acquired based on the variation of specific cutting energy. Moreover, the cutting force of the pick cutter obviously increases with increasing cutting depth and grows slightly with the growth of cutting speed, tip curvature and cutter taper. The maximum temperature significantly increases with the growth of cutting depth and cutting speed, while it is weakly influenced by tip curvature and cutter taper. When the cutter wear exceeds 0.5 mm, the average cutting force increases with the growth of wear depth. Notably, a lab-scale linear cutting test is performed to validate the extended finite element model using the single factor method. The test error between numerical and experimental results is around 0.1, indicating a reliable result of numerical simulation. Furthermore, an optimum combination of various cutting parameters is separately obtained for the lowest cutting force and the minimum temperature based on an orthogonal test. The cutting depth is an extremely significant factor for reducing cutting force and maximum temperature, and the cutting speed is also an extremely significant factor for the maximum temperature via the variance analysis.

Automated summary

In this study, the stress and temperature fields of pick cutters with different structural parameters were investigated using an extended finite element model. The results showed that the cutting force and maximum temperature were greatly influenced by structural and working parameters. The reliability of the numerical simulation was validated through a lab-scale linear cutting test. Optimum cutting parameters combination was obtained for reducing cutting force and temperature.