Numerical characterisation of the friction coefficient at the tool–chip–workpiece interface during friction tests of AISI 1045

The characterisation of frictional phenomena at the tool–chip–workpiece interface in metal cutting remains a challenge. This paper aims at identifying a workpiece surface temperature and an equivalent plastic strain at this interface during the dry cutting of an AISI 1045 with TiN–coated carbide tools. A 3D arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) numerical model simulating the frictional test has been developed to extract local parameters around the spherical pin, such as the plastic strain and the workpiece surface temperature, from experimental macroscopic measurements. A large range of sliding velocities (5–300/min) has been investigated. It has been shown that plastic strain and workpiece surface temperature are mainly dependent on sliding velocity. Two friction regimes have been identified. These numerical results provide a better understanding of the tribological phenomena along the tool–chip–workpiece interfaces in dry machining of an AISI 1045 steel with a TiN–coated carbide tool.