Analysis of adiabatic shear banding in orthogonal cutting of Ti alloy

•Numerical analysis of adiabatic shear banding in high speed machining of Ti6Al4V was performed with a validated model.•Dependence of shear band spacing, segmentation frequency and shear band width with cutting conditions were analyzed.•The role of friction at the tool-chip interface and the effect of rheological parameters of the constitutive equation were investigated.

This work is focused on the numerical analysis of adiabatic shear banding in orthogonal cutting of Ti6Al4V alloy. Segmented chip results from adiabatic shear banding, depending on the competition of thermal softening and strain and strain rate hardening. The influence of cutting velocity and feed in the chip segmentation is studied. Also the role of friction at the tool-chip interface and the effect of rheological parameters of the constitutive equation are analyzed. Experimental tests obtained from previous work of the authors [Molinari A, Musquar C, Sutter G, Adiabatic shear banding in high speed machining of Ti–6Al–4V experiments and modeling, Int J Plast, vol. 18, 2002, p. 443–459] and others were used as a reference to validate the models. Cutting forces and the mechanism of plastic flow localization are analyzed in terms of frequency of segmentation and shear band width and compared to experimental data.