Estimation of temperature in machining with self-propelled rotary tools using finite element method

Abstract The excessive heat generated during machining operations affects the tool wear behavior and machinability performance. Rotary tools were employed to resolve such problems, and it helps to maintain an acceptable tool life, especially when machining difficult-to-cut materials under dry environment. When using rotary tools, the tool rotates around its axis, and the angular motion allows the machining process to take place on the whole perimeter of the cutting insert instead of using a single point cut (i.e., convectional turning). This motion allows every portion of the cutting edge to engage with the workpiece for a relatively short time, and thus better cutting performance can be noticed. Few studies were performed to numerically model and investigate the cutting process using self-propelled rotary tools (SPRT). Furthermore, all existing models were based on certain assumptions to estimate the associated boundary conditions (e.g., the generated heat at the secondary shear zone, the heat partition factor, and the contact area between the tool and the chip), and that could affect the model accuracy. Thus, in the present work, a hybrid model was developed to accurately simulate the machining process using (SPRT) without relying on any of the previous assumptions. Two separate phases were employed in order to study the steady-state temperature field during machining with a SPRT. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid model, a comparison between the predicted and experimental results (in terms of cutting forces and chip morphology) are presented and discussed, and a good agreement was noticed.