Physics-Informed Multistage Machine Learning Strategy for the Nanomachining-Induced Plastic Deformation Behavior

The evolution of the dislocation density induced by the nanomachining process dominates the plastic deformation behaviors of materials, thus affecting the mechanical properties significantly. However, a challenging topic related to how to establish an accurate model for predicting the dislocation density based on the limited simulations and experiments arises due to the complicated thermal–mechanical coupling mechanism during the machining process. Herein, a multistage method integrating machine learning, physics, and high-throughput atomic simulation is proposed to investigate the effect of cutting speed on the dislocation behavior in polycrystal copper. Compared with the traditional one-step machine learning method, the constraint of physical features effectively improves the accuracy and generalization ability of the model. The results indicate that the dislocation behaviors depend on the competition between the cutting force and temperature. In the low-cutting speed, the predominated role of the cutting temperature leads to a rapid decline of the dislocation density. In contrast, the dislocation density tends to be stable under a high-speed cutting process due to the dynamic balance between the effects of the cutting force and temperature. Notably, the proposed strategy provides a new and universal framework to design the machining parameters to obtain high-quality products.