Chip Formation Model of Cutting Fiber-Reinforced Plastics Perpendicular to Fiber Axis

The anisotropy of fiber-reinforced plastics heavily influences the chip formation and cut quality during machining. Fiber arrangement is found more dominant than the often stressed cutting conditions. The present paper studies the chip formation and constructs an original model for the case of cutting perpendicular to the unidirectional fiber axis. Bending failure controls the chip formation in this process. Beam theory and laminate mechanics are used to establish the correlation between cutting force, chip length and thickness. The proposed model can explain the major trend of the experimental results. Chip separation in thickness due to intrinsic bonding defects and overbent chips due to inhomogeneous local material strength are also found. They are understood based on the current model.