Numerical Investigations on Changes of the Main Shear Plane while Broaching

The quality of broached components can be influenced by different factors, such as am-bient temperatures, human factors or vibrations of the machine structure induced by process-machine-interactions. These vibrations are normally initiated by changing pro-cess forces, which are mainly caused by cutting thickness or rake angle variations. Broached components are produced within one motion of the broach along the surface of the work piece, where multiple teeth in a row are in contact. The variation of the cut- ting thickness results from a wavy profile on the surface generated by the previous cut-ting process or the previous tooth. When the cutting thickness changes during the process, the rake angle varies, too. In some further published works, the changing cutting thickness and the changing rake angle during broaching were investigated by means of machining simulations with the result that the process forces are still adjusting after the cutting thickness and the rake angle have already reached a stable value. The adjustment of the shear plane on the new cutting conditions is mentioned as the main reason. This paper presents some deeper investigations on this effect. Therefore, 2D machining simulations for different cutting thicknesses and cutting velocities are performed. The investigations show tendencies for the still adjusting shear plane after changing the cutting thickness or the rake angle during the cutting process. Finally, the simulation results are validated with experimentally observed data.