Numerical Modeling and FE Analysis of CFRP/Ti Stack Orthogonal Cutting

Compared to the great interest of experimental studies on hybrid CFRP/Ti drilling, this paper provided a new contribution to study the hybrid composite machinability via the numerical approach. To this aim, the complex drilling operation was abstracted into the orthogonal cutting configuration (OCC) by considering the involved cutting sequence from one phase machining to another phase machining. The numerical model was established by incorporating four fundamental physical constituents (i.e., Ti layer, interface, CFRP layer and tool part) to simulate the hybrid cutting operation. Different constitutive laws and damage criteria were implemented to construct the anisotropic machinability of the stacked composite. The induced cutting responses including specific cutting energy (u) and induced damage formation, were precisely addressed versus the input variables. The numerical studies highlighted that the anisotropic machinability of the CFRP/Ti stack could be reflected in a “pigeon” like u polar map versus fiber orientation (θ). For minimizing the severe induced damage extent, high cutting speed, as well as low feed rate, should be adopted when machining this multi-phase material.