Journal of Materials Processing Technology 98 (2000) 99103

Turning simulations using a three-dimensional FEM code

E. Cerettia,*, C. Lazzaronia, L. Menegardoa, T. Altanb
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 40, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing, The Ohio State University, 339 Baker Systems Building,
1971 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1271, USA

Abstract
This study is part of the ongoing research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Brescia on FEM simulations
of cutting operations. In recent years, the application of nite element method (FEM) to cutting operations has proved to be effective to
study the cutting process and chip formation. In particular, the simulation results can be used as a practical tool both by researchers and
machine and tool makers to design new tools and to optimize the cutting process.
Several papers are available on two-dimensional simulation of cutting process because the three-dimensional versions of FEM software
required a big effort in computational time. The present work aims to simulate three-dimensional cutting operations. In particular
orthogonal cutting and oblique cutting operations are modeled. The FEM software used for this study is DEFORM 3D. The simulation
results are compared with simulations and experimental data found in literature. A good agreement has been found, conrming the ability
of simulations in predicting chip ow in cutting processes. # 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Turning; Three dimensional simulations; Orthogonal cutting; Oblique cutting

1. Introduction
Turning operations are performed to modify shape,
dimension, and surface roughness of a workpiece cutting
away from it several layers of material. The theory of chip
formation and cutting is complex, not only plasticity but also
thermodynamic and mathematical analysis are involved in
this theory [14]. In the recent years, the application of nite
element method (FEM) to cutting operations has been very
helpful to study the cutting process and chip formation. The
computational power of computers and the use of dedicated
software to study plastic deformation of materials make
possible to monitor all the parameters of the working
process. Thus, these software can be used as a practical
tool both by researchers and machine and tool makers. This
is the reason why the application of FEM software to cutting
operations is quite common nowadays and indeed several
papers are available on this topic. Most of these papers deal
with two-dimensional simulation of cutting process because
the three-dimensional versions of FEM software are avail-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-030-3715583; fax: +39-030-3702448.

E-mail address: ceretti@bsing.ing.unibs.it (E. Ceretti)

able since a short time and two-dimensional reference

models are already well known. Furthermore, several cutting
operations can be studied by two-dimensional models with
some reasonable assumptions.
To simulate deformation in a three-dimensional environment makes it possible to see the process more in detail and
to make more accurate predictions even for processes that
are well represented by a plane model (such as orthogonal
cutting). Moreover, it allows to simulate more complex
operations that need to be studied by a three-dimensional
model (such as oblique cutting).
The objective of this work is to set up two three-dimensional FEM reference models to study three-dimensional
cutting operations: one model for orthogonal cutting, one for
oblique cutting. The FEM software DEFORM 3D developed
by SFTC (Columbus, OH) has been used [5]. This FEM code
is based on an implicit lagrangian computational routine, the
nite element mesh is linked to the workpiece and follows its
deformation.
To simulate the chip formation a remeshing procedure is
performed very frequently, so that the workpiece mesh is
frequently updated and modied to follow the tool progress.
This technique makes possible to simulate chip separation
from the workpiece without any arbitrary predenition.

0924-0136/00/$ see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 3 1 0 - 6

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E. Ceretti et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 98 (2000) 99103

Fig. 1. Orthogonal cutting model as input in the DEFORM 3D software.

2. The orthogonal cutting process

In order to benet from the experience made by the
authors during previous studies on two-dimensional cutting
simulations in the setting up of a three-dimensional model
the rst step is to implement a three-dimensional orthogonal
cutting model [68]. The simulated operation is cutting of an
upper layer of material from a cylindrical workpiece which
rotates around its axis using a tool that moves on a path
perpendicular to this axis. Taking into account a short period
of process time during which the tool path is small and, since
the tool is far from the rotational axis of the workpiece, the
cutting operation can be modeled as shown in Fig. 1. The
tool that moves with constant speed cuts a plane surface.
This model is easy to implement in an FEM software, that is
why it will be the reference model for this study.
2.1. The orthogonal cutting model
The material properties of the simulated cutting operation
are set according to the parameters of a real cutting operation
performed by IFW institute in Hannover (Germany) [9]. The
workpiece material is an aluminum alloy ISO 2017
AlCuMgPb; the tool is modeled as a rigid body, so there
is no need to assign it mechanical properties and only
thermal properties are needed. The width of the cut is
2 mm, the depth of cut is 0.2 mm, the cutting speed is
3300 mm/s; the tool rake angle is 68 and the llet radius
on the cutting edge is 0.1 mm. The
law at the tool/
pfriction

workpiece interface is  m
= 3, m 0.2 and  is the

effective stress at the interface. Fig. 1 shows displacement,
shape and surface mesh of tool and workpiece at the
beginning of the process.
2.2. The orthogonal cutting simulations
A simulation has been performed with these parameters; it
shows a well developed chip and reaches a steady state

Fig. 2. Chip geometry after 3.5 mm of tool progress.

condition after about 2 mm of tool path. Fig. 2 shows the

chip geometry, once the steady state is reached the chip
ows only in the z-direction on the tool rake face.

E. Ceretti et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 98 (2000) 99103

101

Fig. 3. Loads trend: Fc cutting force, Ft thrust force, Fl lateral force.

The load analysis (Fig. 3) shows how both the cutting

force (y-directed force that acts against the tool progress in
the same direction of the cutting speed) and the thrust force
(z-directed force that acts against the tool in the direction of
the cutting depth) became stable when the tool path is about
2 mm conrming that a steady state is reached, the lateral
force (x-directed force) is zero during all the cutting simulation indeed in an orthogonal cutting process this force is not
expected.
In order to obtain such results in a reasonable computation
time a low value for the shear friction factor at the tool/
workpiece interface has been used (m 0.2) but the value
that has been extracted from experimental data by IFW is
four times higher (m 0.8). Thus the comparison between
simulated and experimental cutting force values has to be
done carefully: a law that shows the relationship between
shear friction factor variation and cutting force value has
been found in some previous works on this topic [68]. By
using this law, the simulated value has been corrected to take
into account the difference in shear factor values pointed out
above, the corrected result is 435 N and it is close to the
experimental value of 420 N reported by IFW.
Using DEFORM 3D the distribution of temperature,
stresses, strain and strain rate can be plotted on object's
surfaces as well as in their inside part (with sections)
(Fig. 4). A qualitative analysis of these parameters shows
their realistic distribution (close to the theoretical predictions) during the simulation process.

Fig. 4. Temperature distribution on the surface and inside the tool and the
workpiece.

3.1. The oblique cutting model

The cutting model used now as reference model is shown in
Fig. 5 and it is similar to the one used previously for the orthogonal cutting case but now the cutting speed, assigned to the
tool, is not perpendicular to the direction of the cutting edge.

3. Oblique cutting
Once the capability of DEFORM 3D in making realistic
predictions on cutting processes has been proved, the
next step is the implementation of an oblique cutting model.
This type of cutting operation cannot be modeled in a plane.
It needs to be analyzed in a three-dimensional environment
and this is a good chance to use completely the power of
the three-dimensional software and to test the capability to
give good results even for this complex cutting process
simulation.

Fig. 5. Oblique cutting model as input in DEFORM 3D software.

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E. Ceretti et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 98 (2000) 99103

Fig. 6. Loads trend: Fc cutting force, Ft thrust force, Fl lateral force.

Fig. 7. Effective stress distribution on workpiece surface.

The reference case for this simulation is a work by Prof.

K. Ueda of Kobe University (JPN) [10].
The workpiece material is low-carbon steel (0.45% in
weight) and tool material is tool steel. In this case, as well as
in the previous one, both mechanical and thermal properties
have been assigned for the workpiece whereas the tool has
been dened as rigid and has been given only thermal
properties. The width of the cut is 0.7 mm, the depth of

cut is 0.35 mm and the cutting speed is 0.01 mm/s. The tool
rake angle is 08, the tool inclination angle is 208 and the llet
radius on the cutting edge is 0.1 mm.
The friction
law at the tool/workpiece interface is
p
 m
 3, m 0.2 and  is the effective stress at the
interface.

Fig. 8. Chip geometry after 0.9 mm of tool path: (a) simulations; (b) experiments; (c) Ueda's simulations.

E. Ceretti et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 98 (2000) 99103

3.2. The oblique cutting simulations

Fig. 5 shows displacement, shape and surface mesh of
tool and workpiece at the beginning of the cutting operation
from different points of view. A tool path of 0.9 mm is
simulated so that the nal progress of the tool equals that of
experimental results and a comparison between simulation
and experiments is possible.
The graph in Fig. 6 plots the force trends: all the three
forces (cutting force, lateral force and thrust force) reach a
stable value when the simulation reaches a steady state. The
presence of the lateral force, that always appears when the
cutting operation is oblique, can be noticed. The same graph
allows for a comparison between simulated loads, experimental loads and Ueda's simulation. A very good correlation
is found. For this case, as well as for the previous one, the
distributions of temperature, stresses, strain and strain rate
have been qualitatively evaluated and the capability of
DEFORM 3D in predicting realistic patterns for these
variables has been proved. As an example, Fig. 7 shows
the effective stress distribution on the workpiece surface.
This distribution, as well as the asymmetric chip shape,
underlines the high grade of investigation that can be
achieved with a three-dimensional model.
Fig. 8 shows the comparison between the geometry of the
simulated chip (a), the real chip (b), and Ueda's results (c).
Each different point of view shows that the simulated chip is
very similar to the real one.
4. Conclusions and future work
The excellent results obtained in predicting the outputs of
cutting operations using well known FEM two-dimensional
models has shown the importance of having reliable FEM
models to simulate all the details of real operations and
obtain outputs that match with real data. Thus the objective
of this work has been to create reliable FEM models to
simulate three-dimensional cutting operations that can be
used in the future for further investigations. That is why we
set up two reference models for three-dimensional cutting
operations and proved their reliability by comparing the
simulated and experimental results in terms of chip geometry and cutting load. The nal result can be considered to be
very good. Using these models and referring to these results
it will be possible to follow up this work with interesting

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research: verifying the exibility of the models varying the

cutting parameters and looking at all the simulation outputs
from a quantitative standpoint.
Once a high grade of precision in predicting the real
outputs of cutting operations is achieved, it will be necessary
to make this skill useful for tool makers and tool users.
Cutting machines users, in fact, can use the simulation
outputs in a very effective way: the ability of predicting
the effects of process parameters variations on the nal
output will help to set the best cutting conditions before
starting the production line. For example studying distributions of temperature and shear stresses will make possible to
minimize tool wear. Moreover, FEM simulations will be
helpful also for machines and tool makers, they will help to
select the right material, the best tool geometry and the
process parameters in order to optimize tool design and
working processes saving time and money.

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