Influence of constitutive models on finite element simulation of chip formation in orthogonal cutting of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Cutting simulation technology is widely used to predict the micro-scale and instantaneous information in cutting and can be used to reduce the manufacturing costs in industry. Material constitutive models characterize the deformation behaviors involved in cutting and are the key factors affecting the simulation accuracy. In this work, different plastic constitutive models, JC model, JCM model and KHL models were used to simulate the segmented chip formation in Ti-6Al-4V alloy orthogonal cutting. Meanwhile, the JC damage initiation as well as energy-density based damage evolution criteria were applied in cutting simulation. A VUMAT subroutine was developed to characterize the stable plastic and damage constitutive model. The simulated chip morphology using different constitutive models was compared with the experimental results. The plastic models and the ductile failure model can characterize the flow softening behavior during segmented chip formation. The influence of plastic model on the principle cutting force and the segmented chip morphology at different cutting conditions was discussed.