Numerical Modeling and Experimental Validation in Orthogonal Machining of Aluminum Al 6061-T6 Alloy

Proper selection of cutting parameters, cutting tool material and geometry and machine tool selection is necessary for the production of high-quality products at reduced cost. Cutting forces produced during the machining process are important indicators of the cutting mechanism. The knowledge of the cutting forces during a machining operation helps to select a workpiece of a suitable strength in order to maintain dimensional tolerances by avoiding excessive distortions. Machining is one of the most common manufacturing operations today. A number of research works have been conducted in the past to quantify cutting forces experimentally and numerically during machining processes because theoretical calculations appeared to produce uncertain results due to complex workpiece and tool interaction and inherent complexity of machining process. The numerical analyses have been continuously improved for the prediction of the fundamental physical quantities. However, a general predictive model that can capture the real cutting operation is not available yet due to the presence of extremely complex phenomena associated with the actual cutting operation including tool-chip friction, adiabatic shear bands, free surfaces, high strains and strain rates and high temperatures etc. The objective of this research was to investigate the use of Johnson-Cook material model in simulating orthogonal cutting of Al 6061-T6 alloy. The idea in the current research was to develop a more economical solution to the existing dynamometers which are highly expensive. A cost-effective strain gauge based (mechanically decoupled, beam type static) dynamometer has been designed, developed and tested for finding the cutting forces during orthogonal machining operation which was not considered in the past research studies. Results of force variations measured experimentally through strain gauge based dynamometer as well as predicted numerically through simulation were compared with the published results during machining of Aluminum alloy Al 6061-T6 and found in good agreement.