Study on burr occurrence and surface integrity during slot milling of multidirectional and plain woven CFRPs

Machining carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRP) is often accompanied with cutting edge defects and surface damage including interlayer delamination, cavities and debonding of fiber-matrix. A detailed understanding of the effect of fiber configuration and cutting parameters on cutting force, burr occurrence/formation and surface integrity is necessary. In this paper, experimental data is presented relating to fiber burrs on entry surface, cutting force, surface roughness and workpiece integrity when slot milling CFRP laminates with varying fiber configurations (0°/90°, 45°/135° and plain woven) at different cutting speed (60 and 120 m/min) and feed rate (0.05 and 0.1 mm/rev). Lateral cutting force is recorded down to 56 N and highly dependent on fiber orientation. The length (up to ~?5.6 mm) and amount of fiber burrs are highly related to fiber orientation and fiber cutting angle. Surface roughness Ra down to ~?1.4 μm was recorded when milling type 2 (45°/135°) and type 3 (plain woven) laminates. Various surface defects predominantly occurred due to different cutting conditions and fiber configurations, which are mainly located in the layers with fibers orientated at 45°/135°. The occurrence and propagation of fiber burrs and surface cavities were also investigated based on different fiber fracture mechanisms.     

考虑左旋切削刃切削连续性的碳纤维增强树脂基复合材料铣削研究

采用右旋切削刃铣刀加工碳纤维增强树脂基复合材料（CFRP）时，纤维层受单向轴向力作用而易产生分层、毛刺等损伤，采用左右旋切削刃共存的多刃微齿铣刀对纤维层施加双向轴向力能有效抑制损伤，但如何保证每层纤维都受到左右旋切削刃的切削作用成为抑制损伤的关键。以多刃微齿铣刀为研究对象，通过设计不同的分屑槽螺旋角，获得左旋切削刃切削面积连续、重叠及未连续三种类型的铣刀。通过实验研究发现：切削面积连续时，CFRP加工表面有少量毛刺及翻边；切削面积重叠时，CFRP加工表面无毛刺及撕裂损伤，效果最好；切削面积未连续时，加工表面有大量毛刺和撕裂损伤；此外，表面粗糙度值会随着分屑槽螺旋角的增大而增大。     

An analytical approach to cutting force prediction in milling of carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates

ABSTRACT

A prediction model of cutting force for milling multidirectional laminate of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites was developed in this article by using an analytical approach. In the predictive model, an equivalent uniform chip thickness was used in the case of orthogonal plane cutting, and the average specific cutting energy was taken as an empirical function of equivalent chip thickness and fiber orientation angle. The parameters in the model were determined by the experimental data. Then, the analytical model of cutting force prediction was validated by the experimental data of multidirectional CFRP laminates, which shows the good reliability of the model established. Furthermore, the cutting force component of flank contact force was correlated with the surface roughness of workpiece and the flank wear of tool in milling UD-CFRP composites. It was found that surface quality as well as flank wear has a co-incident varying trend with the flank contact force, as confirmed by the observations of the machined surfaces and tool wear at different fiber orientations. So, it can be known that low flank contact force be required to reduce surface damage and flank wear.     

Influence of size effect on burr formation in micro cutting

Burr is an important character of the surface quality for machined parts, and it is even more severe in micro cutting. Due to the uncut chip thickness and the cutting edge radius at the same range in micro cutting process, the tool extrudes the workpiece with negative rake angle. The workpiece flows along the direction of minimum resistance, and Poisson burr is formed. Based on the deformation analysis and experiment observations of micro cutting process, the factor for Poisson burr formation is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the ratio of the uncut chip thickness to the cutting edge radius plays an important role on the height of Poisson burr. Increasing the uncut chip thickness or decreasing the cutting edge radius makes the height of exit burr reduce. A new model of micro exit burr is established in this paper. Due to the size effect of specific cutting energy, the exit burr height increases. The minimum exit burr height will be obtained when the ratio of uncut the chip thickness to the cutting edge radius reaches 1. It is found that the curled radius of the exit burr plays an important role on the burr height.     

A FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF BURR FORMATION IN FACE MILLING OF A CAST ALUMINUM ALLOY

The research discussed in this article focuses on the effects of tool geometry (i.e., rake angle and cutting edge radius) and flank wear upon burr formation in face milling of a cast aluminum alloy. As to tool edge preparation, the use of a tool with variable cutting edge radius was investigated using FEM, and compared for its cutting performance (i.e., burr reduction and tool life) with a conventional tool with uniform cutting edge radius. In order to evaluate 3D face milling through 2D orthogonal cutting simulations, the cross-sections that consist in the cutting speed direction and chip flow direction were selected at different locations along the tool rounded corner. At these cross-sections, the local value of cutting edge radius and their associated tool rake angles as well as the effective uncut chip thickness were determined for 2D cutting simulations. In addition, 3D face milling simulations were conducted to investigate more realistic chip flow and burr generation. Comparisons were made for burrs produced from 3D simulations with a sharp tool, 3D simulations with a worn tool and face milling experiments. Finally, recommendations for cutting tool design are made to reduce burr formation in face milling.     

Defining the effects of cutting parameters on burr formation and minimization in ultra-precision grooving of amorphous alloy

Amorphous nickel phosphorus (Ni-P) alloy is a suitable mold material for fabricating micropatterns on optical elements for enhancing their performances. Ultra-precision cutting is preferred to be used to machine the mold material for high precision in a large workpiece. However, burrs and chippings always form and are detrimental especially when fabricating micropatterns. The formation mechanisms of burrs and chippings have not yet been revealed precisely in the cutting processes of amorphous alloys, because their cutting behavior is more complex and less discussed in existing researches than that of crystalline metals. In the present study, the burr formation process of amorphous Ni-P is defined and a three-dimensional cutting model using energy method is proposed to predict and minimize burrs and chippings. Microgrooving experiments were conducted with different undeformed chip geometries using three types of cutting tools to observe burr formation processes. Large burrs and chippings were formed when cutting with a tapered square tool and a tilted triangle tool. These large burrs and chippings were found to be induced by large slippages that are unique to amorphous alloys. It was revealed that burrs and chippings appear when the angle between the chip flow direction and the groove edge is less than a critical value. Energy method was used to predict the chip flow directions and the calculated results agree with the experimental ones, which proved that the energy method is valid for designing an appropriate undeformed chip geometry to reduce burrs and chippings in ultra-precision grooving.     

Edge burr development when using a cemented carbide micro-drill: Formation and control mechanisms

To explore the mechanism of formation and methods of control of edge burr in the grinding and forming of cemented carbide micro-drill, the morphology, material composition, and the edge structure of the generated area of the edge burrs are studied. Through indentation and scratch experiments, the critical grinding depth (h_c) of grinding machining is calculated to be 0.793–1.052 μm. The grinding experiments have verified the effects of the actual grinding depth h₀ of different single abrasive particles on the edge burr and the effectiveness of the method of controlling the burr by increasing the cutting angle of the abrasive particles. The experimental results show that edge burrs are mainly concentrated on the cutting edge close to the outer cylinder of the micro-drill. When the actual grinding depth h₀ of a single abrasive particle is less than the critical grinding depth h_c, workpiece material is mainly subjected to plastic deformation removal, the length L of the edge burr along the edge direction is 10–20 μm, the width W of the burr perpendicular to the edge direction is 1–3 μm. The formation of edge burrs is mainly related to the actual grinding depth and the abrasive grain cutting angle γ of abrasive grains. With the increase of h₀, the length L of the edge burr decreases, and the width W thereto first increases, then decreases. Increasing the cutting angle of abrasive particles can control the edge burr. By changing the grinding direction of the grinding wheel, the cutting angle of the abrasive particles can be changed from an acute angle to an obtuse angle, thereby eliminating the edge burr without affecting the performance of micro-drilling.     

Finite element simulation for burr formation near the exit of orthogonal cutting

A coupled thermo-mechanical model of plane-strain orthogonal metal cutting including burr formation is presented using the commercial finite element code. A simulation procedure based on Normalized Cockroft–Latham damage criterion is proposed for the purpose of better understanding the burr formation mechanism and obtaining a quantitative analysis of burrs near the exit of orthogonal cutting. The cutting process is simulated from the transient initial chip formation state to the steady state of cutting, and then to tool exit transient chip flow by incrementally advancing the cutting tool. The predicted burr profile is compared with experimental data and found to be in reasonable agreement. The effect of the tool conditions and cutting conditions on the burr formation process was also investigated.     

Investigation on the burr formation mechanism in micro cutting

It is desirable to minimize burr formation for improving part quality. This paper presents an investigation on the burr formation mechanism in micro cutting by taking into consideration the stress distribution around the cutting edge arc. The influences of the uncut chip thickness and the cutting edge radius on burr formation were investigated. Poisson burr is attributed to the side flow of the stagnation material at the bottom of the cutting edge arc. The stress distribution at the cutting edge arc has great influence on Poisson burr formation. The burr height decreases to the minimum value and then increases with reducing the uncut chip thickness due to the change of the maximum stress distribution. An optimum machining strategy also is suggested in micro milling of snake-shaped groove microstructure.     

Influence of cutting edge radius on surface integrity and burr formation in milling titanium

The influence of the cutting edge micro geometry on cutting process and on tool performance is subject to several research projects. Recently, published papers mainly focus on the cutting edge rounding and its influence on tool life and cutting forces. For applications even more important, however, is the influence of the cutting edge radius on the integrity of the machined part. Especially for titanium, which is used in environments requiring high mechanical integrity, the information about the dependency of surface integrity on cutting edge geometry is important. This paper therefore studies the influence of the cutting edge radius on surface integrity in terms of residual stress, micro hardness, surface roughness and optical characterisation of the surface and near surface area in up and down milling of the titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V. Moreover, the influence of the cutting edge radius on burr formation is analysed. The experiments show that residual stresses increase with the cutting edge radius especially in up milling, whereas the influence in down milling is less pronounced. The influence of the cutting edge radius on surface roughness is non-uniform. The formation of burr increases with increasing cutting edge radius, and is thus in agreement with the residual stress tests.     

Modeling of burr thickness in milling of ductile materials

Accuracy and surface finish play an important role in modern industry. The presence of undesired projections of materials, known as burrs, negatively affect the part quality and assembly process. To remove burrs, a secondary operation known as deburring is required for the post-processing and edge finishing of machined parts. The thickness of the burr is of interest as it describes the time and method necessary for deburring of the machined part. Burr thickness (B _t) measurements are costly and non-value-added operations that in most cases require the use of a scanning electron microscope for accurate burr characterization. Therefore, to avoid such expenses, the implementation of alternative methods for predicting the burr thickness is strongly recommended. In this research work, an analytical model for predicting the burr thickness in end milling of ductile materials is presented. The model is built on the geometry of burr formation and the principle of continuity of work at the transition from chip formation to burr formation that also takes into account the cutting force influence on burr formation. A very good correlation was found between the modeled and experimental B _t values. The model has shown a great sensitivity to material properties such as yield strength and specific cutting force coefficient (K _c). In addition, the sensitivity of the proposed model to the feed per tooth (f _t) and depth of cut (a _p) was considerably high. The proposed model allows the prediction of the thickness of the exit up milling side burr, without the need for experimental measurement and/or approximation of shear angle (Φ), friction angle (λ), and the tool chip contact length (L), unlike existing analytical burr size prediction models. Besides analytical modeling, statistical analysis is performed on experimental results in order to distinguish dominant process parameters on B _t. It is observed that the depth of cut and feed per tooth are the main parameters which significantly affect the B _t, while the speed has only a negligible effect on it.     

Micromechanisms of deformation and fracture in shearing aluminum alloy sheet

A systematic experimental investigation is presented on trimming of aluminum alloy autobody sheets. The variations of cut surface quality and burr height are related to the cutting parameters of clearance, blade sharpness and cutting angle. It was discovered that, contrary to conventional wisdom requiring the blade to travel perpendicularly to the sheet (0°-“cutting angle”), at appropriate cutting angles the surface quality becomes insensitive to the blade sharpness, and almost zero burrs are produced for large clearances and extremely dull blades. The findings suggest that the robustness of current shearing practices for aluminum sheets can potentially be greatly improved, requiring much less frequent tool-sharpening and less restrictions on clearance control. A counter-intuitive phenomenon was revealed. At certain cutting angles and intermediate clearances, instead of burr heights and cut surface roughnesses monotonically increasing with decreases in the blade sharpness as expected, they first increased and then surprisingly decreased. Instability conditions exist at which cut surface quality and burr height are extremely sensitive to the cutting parameters.     

High-speed milling of CFRP composites: a progressive damage model of cutting force

Three-dimensional Hashin failure criterion and material stiffness degradation model were compiled by VUMAT subroutine. The Abaqus/Explicit solver was performed to establish progressive damage model of cutting force for CFRP high-speed milling, and high-speed milling experiments with different cutting parameters were carried out. Further, the impact mechanism of fiber cutting angle and cutting parameters on cutting force, stress, and material failure during milling was explored, and the material removal mechanism in high-speed milling of CFRP was revealed. The results show that the error between the experimental and simulated of cutting forces is less than 5%, which indicates that the progressive damage model is feasible. The fiber cutting angle has significant influence on cutting force and stress in cutting process, and the cutting direction has a significant influence on cutting force. In addition, cutting parameters play a critical role in cutting force, and the feed per tooth is the most significant factor affecting the cutting force. Simultaneously, the progressive damage model predicts that the shear failure of materials mainly concentrates in the cutting area and extends along the feed direction. Finally, the material removal mechanism of CFRP in high-speed milling was revealed combining cutting force experiment.     

涂层刀具高速铣削碳纤维复合材料的铣削力研究

由于碳纤维复合材料(CFRP)的各向异性,纤维的铺层方向对其整体性能有重要的影响。本文采用斜角自由切削方法对具有12种不同纤维方向的T800、T700和T300碳纤维复合材料的切削力进行了试验研究,得出了CFRP单向层合板在不同基体类型和不同纤维方向下切削力的变化规律,并分析了纤维结构对切削力的影响机理。结果表明:基体类型对切削力的影响均匀稳定,无方向性;纤维方向对切削力的影响具有显著的方向性,对切削力影响的强弱关系为F_XF_ZF_Y。     

Machining of micro-channels and pyramid patterns using elliptical vibration cutting

Precision machining of micro-channels and quadrangular pyramids was studied using elliptical vibration cutting (EVC). A single crystal diamond tool with the trapezoidal shape was specially developed, and the tool was attached to the orthogonally arranged dual piezoelectric actuators to make the tool traverse an elliptical path at a frequency of 18 kHz for EVC. When the conventional micro-shaping method was applied to create microgrooves and patterns on workpieces of different materials, it was observed that (1) relatively large shear deformation induced periodic waves and partial tearing on the surface of brass which has relatively small brittleness, (2) a significant amount of burrs were formed on ductile copper, and (3) fractures of microstructures were observed on brittle nickel. In contrast, the application of EVC greatly reduced cutting resistance which, in turn, inhibited formation of burr and fracture of the microstructure and prevented degradation of surface quality from shear deformation, collectively contributing to significantly improving form accuracy of micro-channels and pyramid patterns.     

Characterization and modeling of burr formation in micro-end milling

Mechanical micromachining is increasingly finding applications in fabrication of components in various fields, such as, biomedical devices, optics, electronics, medicine, communications and avionics. In order to ensure adequate functionality, there are stringent requirements for form and finish in case of biomedical devices like cochlear implants and metallic optics. This necessitates that the post machined surface must be burr free. To address these issues in micromachining, this paper presents results of an experimental study to investigate the influence of main process parameters i.e. speed, feed rate, depth of cut, tool diameter and number of flutes on the formation of the various types of burrs i.e. exit burrs and top burrs produced during micro-end milling operation. The experiments performed using Taguchi method shows that three types of burr formation mechanisms prevail during micro-end milling operations; these are: lateral deformation of material, bending and tearing of the chip. Also, three types of burrs were observed include: Poisson burr, rollover burr in down milling and tear burr in up milling. Further, it is observed that the depth of cut and the tool diameter are the main parameters, which influence the burr height and thickness significantly. However, the speed and the feed rate have small to negligible effect on the burr thickness and height. Besides the experimental analysis, the paper presents an analytical model to predict the burr height for exit burr. The model is built on the geometry of burr formation and the principle of continuity of work at the transition from chip formation to burr formation. Note that prediction of burr height in micro-end milling is extremely challenging due to the complex geometry of material removal and microstructural effects encountered during cutting at that length scales. The model fares well and the prediction errors range between 0.65 and 25%.     

Orthogonal cutting of fiber-reinforced composites: A finite element analysis

Orthogonal cutting of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer composites was analyzed using the finite element method. A dual fracture process was used to simulate chip formation incorporating both the maximum stress and Tsai—Hill failure criteria. All aspects of the cutting tool geometry are considered in the model including the tool rake and clearance angles, nose radius and wear land, as well as friction between the tool and work material. Predictions for the cutting forces from numerical simulations are verified with experimental measurements for orthogonal trimming of unidirectional graphite/epoxy. The principal cutting force predictions agree very well with those obtained from experiments. The influence of fiber orientation and tool geometry on the fracture stress are highlighted and their effects on the material removal process in orthogonal trimming of reinforced polymers are discussed.     

Burr analysis in microgrooving

Microburr formation affects badly on product's quality, especially the finishing surface. Besides, deburring techniques on microcutting are almost impossible or high cost. Understanding burr formation phenomena and minimizing burr size in correlation with cutting conditions and material properties, in this case, are more appropriate. For the purpose of exploring the burr phenomena in micrometal cutting, two cases of burr formation in grooving micropatterns are introduced in the paper. The burr happens along the cutting direction—side burr—of prism pattern, and the other happens at the exit edge of the pattern in the cutting direction—exit burr—of pyramid pattern. Besides, the exit break off which occurs during the exit burr formation is also studied. The analytical solutions for predicting the burr and break off size in each case are also proposed and compared with experiments.     

Evaluation of material properties and internal damage within CFRP and CFRP/Al sandwich panels due to impact loading

In the present paper, damage development within Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates and CFRP/Aluminum (Al) honeycomb core sandwich panels by impact loading was evaluated, and change in material properties due to the damage development was investigated. Falling weight impact tests, 3-point bending tests and cross-sectional observation were carried out. As results, it is found that falling rate of bending elastic modulus due to internal damage in the laminate only is lower than that in the upper face-sheet of the sandwich panel, and that difference in the falling rate between them becomes maximum at the impact energy of 5.1 J. As a result of investigating the relationship between reduction in bending elastic modulus and internal damage development, the reduction is caused by delamination within CFRP laminates mainly. Since total length of cracks in CFRP/Al honeycomb core sandwich panels is smaller than that in the laminates only, the sandwich panels have high impact tolerance because of absorption of impact energy by damaging Al honeycomb core.     

Sensitivity analysis of thermal deformation of CFRP laminate reflector due to fiber orientation error

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates are sometimes adopted as material of space observation systems because their specific stiffness is high and thermal deformation can be controlled by stacking sequence and fiber orientation. However, unexpected out-of-plane thermal deformation is generated on CFRP laminate plates because of fiber orientation error. In this research, a CFRP reflector model was built and its thermal deformation was measured to determine the kinds of deformation generated on the reflector. In the experiment, non-axisymmetric deformation was generated even for uniform heating. Finite-element analysis (FEA) on thermal deformation of the reflector model was performed to explain non-axisymmetric deformation. FEA showed that non-axisymmetric deformation was generated by fiber orientation error. The thermal deformation of the CFRP reflector model was strongly affected by fiber orientation error, and accordingly, the fiber orientation angle of CFRP reflectors should be controlled strictly depending on the desired accuracy.