Simulation and experiment of cutting characteristics for single cBN-WC-10Co fiber

To explore the cutting characteristics of single fiber, the cutting process of Ti-6Al-4 V titanium alloy by single cBN-WC-10Co fiber was simulated, and the fiber size was given as 6 mm in length and 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm in cross-section. The geometry of single fiber was modeled and the material model of Ti-6Al-4 V titanium alloy was established using the Johnson-Cook constitutive equation. The minimal thermal resistance method was combined with the specific effective thermal conductivity method to obtain the thermal conductivity of cBN-WC-10Co composites. To evaluate the grinding performance of single cBN-WC-10Co fiber, both of the comparative experiment and simulation were conducted. The simulation was used to predict the deformation and cutting temperature occurring to the workpiece, as well as the cutting force and the wear depth occurring to the single fiber. The cutting experiments were conducted on Ti-6Al-4 V titanium alloy by both of grinding tools with single fiber and single conical grain for the comparison. It was found that the cutting temperatures of single fiber were 50-100 °C lower, the wear depths were 7%-15% less, and the cutting forces were 1-5 N larger than those of single grain at the same process parameters. The cutting force ratios of single fiber were much less than those of single grain. The results from the comparative experiment were aligned with the simulation results that single fiber was able to develop chips easily, while more plastic deformation occurred on the workpiece cut by single grain. This indicated that the cBN-WC-10Co fiber improved the material removal performance greatly in comparison with the CBN grain.