Effect of mechanical and thermal loads on the distortion of machining thinwalled parts using the FEM model

Machining of thin-walled monolithic parts made of aluminum alloys is a key process in industries such as aerospace. In the final machining process, the cutting forces and machining temperature produce deflection for workpiece which results in the dimensional inaccuracies and distortion on the finished component. The purpose of this paper is to study the thermal and mechanical behavior in machining of aluminum alloys (Al)0)5-T0) using P7D (polycrystalline diamond) and 810 (cemented carbide) tools to investigate the correlation between both parameter on distortion. The study was made using a three-dimensional finite element method model in Abaqus software under orthogonal cutting conditions. The results represented the direct effect of the force and temperature on level of distortion in thin-walled workpieces. However, the mechanical loads have more influence on work piece distortion in comparison to the thermal loads. It was concluded that the polycrystalline tool has a superior performance in terms of cutting forces and temperature when compared to the cemented carbide tool. To validate the FEM model, the results were compared with experiments of the other papers. Results showed a good agreement with experiments.