Pitch-catch ultrasonic study on unidirectional CFRP composite laminates using Rayleigh wave transducers

The importance of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) has been generally recognized, and CFRP composite laminates have become widely used. Thus, a nondestructive technique would be very useful for evaluating CF/epoxy composite laminates. A pitch-catch UT signal is more sensitive than is a normal incidence backwall echo of a longitudinal wave in composites. The depth of the sampling volume where the pitch-catch UT signal came from is relatively shallow, but the depth can be increased by increasing the separation distance of the transmitting and receiving probes. Moreover, a method is utilized to determine the porosity content of a composite lay-up by processing micrograph images of the laminate. The porosity content of a composite structure is critical to the overall strength and performance of the structure. The image processing method developed utilizes software to process micrograph images of the test sample. The results from the image processing method are compared with existing data. Beam profile is characterized in unidirectional CFRP using pitch-catch Rayleigh probes. The one-sided and two-sided pitch-catch techniques are utilized to produce C-scan images with the aid of an automatic scanner. The pitch-catch ultrasonic signal corresponds with the simulated results of unidirectional CFRP composites.     

Terahertz spectroscopy approach of the fiber orientation influence on CFRP composite solid laminates

Terahertz ray (T-ray) imaging applications have provided one of the most promising new powerful nondestructive evaluation techniques, and new application systems are under process development for area applications. Detecting flaws and defects in fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composite laminates due to flaws in FRP composite laminate that affect laminate properties, including stiffness, strength, and thermal behavior, is very important. In this study, a new time-domain spectroscopy system was utilized for detecting and evaluating the flaws in FRP solid composite laminates. Extensive experimental measurements in reflection mode were made to map out T-ray images. In particular, electromagnetic properties, such as refractive index, were estimated in this characterization procedure. The estimates of properties were in good agreement with known data. Using these characteristic material properties, we successfully demonstrated the characteristics of the T-ray behavior propagating through FRP composites. Furthermore, layup effect and flaws of FRP composite laminates were observed in reflection mode, and limitations were discussed in the T-ray processing.     

Sustainability analyses of cutting edge radius on specific cutting energy and surface finish in side milling processes

The aim of this work is to determine the influence of cutting edge radius on the specific cutting energy and surface finish in a mechanical machining process. This was achieved by assessing the direct electrical energy demand during side milling of aluminium AW6082-T6 alloy and AISI 1018 steel in a dry cutting environment using three different cutting tool inserts. The specific energy coefficient was evaluated as an index of the sustainable milling process. The surface finish of the machined parts was also investigated after machining. It was observed that machining with the 48.50-μm cutting edge radius insert resulted in lower specific cutting energy requirements when compared with the 68.50 and 98.72-μm cutting edge radii inserts, respectively. However, as the ratio of the undeformed chip thickness to cutting edge radius is less than 1, the surface roughness increases. The surface roughness values gradually decrease as the ratio of undeformed chip thickness to cutting edge radius (h/r _e) tends to be 1 and at minimum surface roughness values when the ratio of h/r _e equalled to 1. However, the surface roughness values increased as h/r _e becomes higher than 1. This machining strategy further elucidates the black box and trade-offs of ploughing and rubbing characteristics of micro machining and optimization strategy for minimum energy and sustainable manufacture.     

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 the effect of tool edge radius on surface generation in elliptical vibration cutting

The elliptical vibration cutting (EVC) technique has been found to be a promising technique for ultraprecision machining of various materials. During the EVC process, two-dimension vibration movement of the cutting tool generates consecutively overlapping EVC cycles. In each cycle, the tool position relative to the workpiece gets continuously varied, and meanwhile, cusps are left along the nominal cutting direction. Such vibration marks, which have never been found in conventional cutting process, are considered to be a critical characteristic for the EVC technique. In order to analyze this unique characteristic, an analytical model based on geometrical relationships in the EVC process was developed to calculate the theoretical roughness, where the tool edge is assumed to be perfectly sharp. However, the effect of tool edge radius is probably significant, especially in the situation where the tool edge radius is comparable to the vibration amplitudes. Hence, in the present research, an analytical surface generation model for the EVC process is developed to better understand the surface generation process and predict the surface roughness. The tool edge radius is considered and investigated in detail in this new approach. Mathematical evaluation shows that the surface roughness value along the nominal cutting direction decreases with the increase of the edge radius. In order to validate the proposed model, a series of EVC grooving tests on soft and hard work materials were conducted using a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool by applying the ultrasonic EVC technique. The results show that the predicted roughness based on the proposed model correlates well with the experimental results measured by a white light interferometer, and the model considering the tool edge radius performs significantly better than the one without considering the edge radius in predicting the roughness along the nominal cutting direction.     

Investigation of the effect of cutting tool edge radius on material separation due to ductile fracture in machining

This paper investigates the interaction between cutting tool edge radius and material separation due to ductile fracture based on Atkins’ model of machining. Atkins’ machining model considers the energy needed for material separation in addition to energies required for shearing at the primary shear zone and friction at the secondary shear zone. However, the effect of cutting tool edge radius, which becomes significant at microcutting conditions, was omitted. In this study, the effect of cutting tool edge radius is included in the model and its influence on material separation is investigated. A modification to the solution methodology of Atkins’ machining model is proposed and it is shown that the shear yield stress and the fracture toughness of the work material can be calculated as a function of uncut chip thickness.     

A cutting force model considering influence of radius of curvature for sculptured surface machining

A new cutting force model considering influence of radius of curvature is introduced in this research for sculptured surface machining with ball-end mill. In this model, first the whole cutting region near the cutter contact (CC) point on the sculptured surface is approximated by a spherical surface, and the radius of this spherical surface is used as the radius of curvature at the CC point. Then equations to estimate the cutting forces at a differential element on the cutting edge are established. By obtaining the cutter-workpiece contact areas based on geometries of the cutter and the sculptured surface, the mathematical model for estimating the total cutting forces in different directions is then developed. Experiments have also been conducted to measure the cutting forces considering different radii of curvatures on the sculptured surfaces. The analytically estimated cutting forces match well with the actual cutting forces obtained through experiments.     

Tool edge radius effect on cutting temperature in micro-end-milling process

The cutting temperature plays an important role in micro-scale cutting process due to the fact that the dimension of the micro-cutter is small and the value of micro-cutter wear is sensitive to temperature. In this paper, the temperature distribution of the micro-cutter in the micro-end-milling process has been investigated by numerical simulations and experimental approach. Micro-end-milling processes are modeled by the three-dimensional finite element method coupling thermal?Cmechanical effects. The micro-cutter cutting temperature distribution, the effect of various tool edge radii on cutting force, and the effective stress during micro-end-milling of aluminum alloy Al2024-T6 using a tungsten-carbide micro-cutter are investigated on. The simulation results show that with increase of tool edge radius the cutting force increases, while the effective stress and mean cutting temperature decreases slightly. In increasing the tool edge radius, the maximum effective stress and cutting temperature region of the micro-cutter occur from the rake face to the corner on the tool edge and the flank face. The tool edge radius has been found to be the major factor affecting micro-cutter temperature distribution. The experimental verification of the simulation model is carried out on a micro-end-milling process of aluminum alloy 2024-T6 with a high-precision infrared camera. The influence of tool edge radius on cutting temperature distribution was verified in experiments.     

基于圆弧刃刀具的超精密切削分析

分析圆弧刃刀具切入过程、切削刃钝圆和进给量对加工质量的影响.对金刚石刀具的刀尖圆弧半径、圆弧切削刃钝圆半径、进给量与表面粗糙度之间的关系进行描述.结果表明:正确地选择刀尖圆弧半径、切削刃钝圆半径和进给量是获得高质量加工表面的有力保证.     

Drilling-induced damage in uni-directional glass fiber reinforced plastic (UD-GFRP) composite laminates

Uni-directional glass fiber reinforced plastic (UD-FRP) composite materials are a feasible alternative to structural members that bear loads in only one direction. FRP composite materials have excellent properties in the direction of the fibers. Drilling- induced damage acts as an inhibitor to their application, as the holes act as stress concentration sites for failure under loading. The present study is an attempt to study the influence of drilling-induced damage on the residual tensile strength of uni-directional composite laminates and to propose a mathematical model correlating the residual strength with the drilling parameters. A finite element model (FEM) is also developed to study the drilling-induced damage in composite laminates.     

Finite element modeling of residual stresses in machining induced by cutting using a tool with finite edge radius

A thermal elastic-viscoplastic finite element model is used to evaluate the residual stresses remaining in a machined component. An improvement in the accuracy of the predicted residual stresses is obtained by: (a) using a modified Johnson–Cook material model that is augmented by a linearly elastic component to describe the material behavior as non-Newtonian fluid; (b) using a remeshing scheme to simulate the material flow in the vicinity of the rounded cutting tool edge without the use of a separation criterion; (c) properly accounting for the unloading path, and (d) considering the thermomechanical coupling effect on deformation. Case studies are performed to study the influence of sequential cuts, cutting conditions, etc., on the residual stresses induced by orthogonal machining.     

Investigation of CFRP cutting mechanism variation and the induced effects on cutting response and damage distribution

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology - Machining of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) still remains a difficult procedure in the whole manufacturing process. One of...     

A study of the effect of tool cutting edge radius on ductile cutting of silicon wafers

Ductile mode cutting of silicon wafers can be achieved under certain cutting conditions and tool geometry. An experimental investigation of the critical undeformed chip thickness in relation to the tool cutting edge radius for the brittle-ductile transition of chip formation in cutting of silicon wafers is presented in this paper. Experimental tests for cutting of silicon wafers using diamond tools of different cutting edge radii for a range of undeformed chip thickness are conducted on an ultra-precision lathe. Both ductile and brittle mode of chip formation processes are observed in the cutting tests. The results indicate that ductile cutting of silicon can be achieved at certain values of the undeformed chip thickness, which depends on the tool cutting edge radius. It is found that in cutting of silicon wafers with a certain tool cutting edge radius there is a critical value of undeformed chip thickness beyond which the chip formation changes from ductile mode to brittle mode. The ductile-brittle transition of chip formation varies with the tool cutting edge radius. Within the range of cutting conditions in the present study, it has also been found that the larger the cutting edge radius, the larger the critical undeformed chip thickness for the ductile-brittle transition in the chip formation.     

Discussion on the problems related to NC machining of toroid-shaped taper cutter with constant angle between cutting edge and the cutter axis

Defining the helical angle as the angle between the cutting edge and revolving axis of the cutter presents the designing models of the cutting edge and helical groove of a toroid shaped taper cutter. Under the condition of a certain revolving speed, the relative radial and axial feeding speeds of the grinding wheel in two-axis NC machining of the cutter are deduced. The models for calculating the actual obtained groove and the simulation-method of computer are also provided.The surface near to the top of the end cutter has no helical cutting edges and infinite feeding speeds of NC machine. It is necessary to adopt a supplementary cutting edge. A supplementary cutting edge is designed as a cutting edge with a constant pitch. This paper provides valuable reference for the design and NC machining of this kind of toroid shaped taper cutter.     

Temperature measurement and machining damage in slotting of multidirectional CFRP laminate

Compared to metallic materials, carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have lower thermal conductivity and minor thermal expansion coefficient. Despite this, their machining can generate accuracy errors if the cutting temperature is not controlled. In this paper, an experimental study of slotting of multidirectional CFRP laminate (G803/914) with three micrograin carbide burr tools with different geometries is considered in order to investigate tool-workpiece contact point temperature, chip temperature, machined surface damage, subsurface defects and tool degradation. The experiment is made on a computer numerical control (CNC) machine with cutting speed ranging from 80 to 200 m/min and feed per tooth from 0.008 to 0.060 mm/rev/tooth. The data were analyzed in order to establish empirical models showing the dependence of cutting temperature on tool geometry and cutting conditions. Based on the results, it is concluded that cutting speed is the factor influencing cutting temperature the most, the heat generated during slotting is removed mainly by chips and the chip temperature is greater than the tool-workpiece contact temperature of about 18.5°C on average for the three burr tools.     

SPH modeling of chip formation in cutting unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite

The machining of composites is of great interest in manufacturing today. To that end, it is necessary to calculate the cutting forces required and to predict the surface quality obtained. In the present work, the cutting zone of a unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite is simulated by the SPH method. The calculation results—specifically, the equivalent stress and the strain distribution—are compared with results obtained previously by the finite-element method and also with experimental data. The good agreement with experimental data indicates that the SPH method may expediently be used in simulating the cutting of composites.