FEM-Based Hot Machining of Inconel 718 Alloy

Abstract

Finite element simulation of metal cutting process has acquired much attention by many researchers in the recent past since it is a robust tool to estimate the machining process variables, which are hard to get experimentally. It is well known that machining of hard to cut materials causes large cutting forces, which is responsible for excessive tool wear, rise in power consumption of machines, and also leads to an extreme deflection and accordingly failure of the cutting tool. The objective of this paper is to predict cutting forces under the influence of preheating surface temperature in addition to cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut (doc) in machining of Inconel 718 alloy using Abaqus/CAE. The Johnson–Cook material model is the simplest model in machining simulation which is suitable in relating the material behavior at high strain rate and also suitable for dynamic simulation conditions. An L9 orthogonal array and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio are deployed and found the optimum combination of machining parameters at cutting speed of 50 m/min, feed of 0.11 mm/rev, depth of cut of 0.1 mm and preheating temperature of 600 °C in order to minimize the cutting forces and also found depth of cut as the most effective factor. The results were compared with previous experimental results and found satisfactory.