Analytical and experimental investigation of rake contact and friction behavior in metal cutting

In this study, the friction behavior in metal cutting operations is analyzed using a thermomechanical cutting process model that represents the contact on the rake face by sticking and sliding regions. The relationship between the sliding and the overall, i.e. apparent, friction coefficients are analyzed quantitatively, and verified experimentally. The sliding friction coefficient is identified for different workpiece–tool couples using cutting and non-cutting tests. In addition, the effect of the total, sticking and sliding contact lengths on the cutting mechanics is investigated. The effects of cutting conditions on the friction coefficients and contact lengths are analyzed. It is shown that the total contact length on the rake face is 3–5 times the feed rate. It is observed that the length of the sliding contact strongly depends on the cutting speed. For high cutting speeds the contact is mainly sliding whereas the sticking zone can be up to 30% of the total contact at low speeds. From the model predictions and measurements it can be concluded that the sticking contact length is less than 15% for most practical operations. Furthermore, it is also demonstrated that the true representation of the friction behavior in metal cutting operations should involve both sticking and sliding regions on the rake face for accurate predictions. Although the main findings of this study have been observed before, the main contribution of the current work is the quantitative analysis using an analytical model. Therefore, the results presented in this study can help to understand and model the friction in metal cutting.