Simulation And Experimental Study On The Cutting Process Of SiC_p/Al Composites

Particle-reinforced metal matrix composites (PRMMCs) have shown great prospect in military and aviation industry because of its outstanding properties such as high specific modulus and stiffness, good conductivity, high temperature and abrasion resistance, etc. But the presence of the reinforcing particles in PRMMCs would reduce the machinability of the materials and cause severe tool wear and surface defects in the cutting process, which has seriously hindered the application and development of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites. Therefore, it's of great importantance to study the mechanism of the cutting process of PRMMCs so as to reduce the machining costs and improve the machined surface quality.This article take the SiCp/Al composite as the research object to study the cutting force, temperature, particle-tool interaction, machinined surface defects and tool wear, etc in the cutting process in both simulation and experiments ways.The interaction between tool, particles and metal matrix is very complex and generally difficult to determine the deformation behavior of the metal matrix composites(MMCs) in the cutting process through experimental or analytical methods. So this paper eatablish a 2-D orthogonal cutting model from macro and micro angle respectively using the finite element method to simulate the cutting process of SiCp/2024Al composites and investigate the cutting force , temperature and tool-particle interactions. The development of stress and strain fields in the MMCs is also analysed and physical phenonmena such as surface defects and deformation of metal matrix is explorered.Based on the previous work, the end milling experiment of SiCp/2024Al is conducted. The machined surface topography, residual stresses and tool wear is studied by comparing with the simulation results and the finite element model is verified to be reliable.It is found that the distribution and orientation of the reinforements and the tool-particle interaction are responsible for machined surface defects and tool wear. High milling speed and low vibration can improve the machinined surface quality.