Production Engineering I

(MEng 3191)

Lecture on:
Chip Formation

09/23/2021 Mechanics of machining 1

 Objectives
2

 At the end of this lesson, the student would be able to

I. describe with illustration the mechanism of chip formation in
machining
 ductile materials and
 brittle materials
II. illustrate and assess geometrical characteristics of
ductile chips :
 chip reduction coefficient & cutting ratio
 shear angle and cutting strain
III. Identify and state the causes, characteristics and effects of
built – up – edge (BUE) formation.
IV. Classify chips and identify the condition for different chip
forms.
 Mechanics of machining
3

Basic cutting Geometry

• Orthogonal cutting: the cutting edge of the tool is straight

and perpendicular to the direction of motion.
• Oblique cutting: the tool edge is set at angle.
Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
Mechanism of chip formation in
machining
4

 Machining is a semi-finishing or finishing process essentially done to impart

required or stipulated dimensional and form accuracy and surface finish to
enable the product to
 fulfill its basic functional requirements

 provide better or improved performance

 Improve service life.

 Machining is a process of gradual removal of excess material from the

preformed blanks in the form of chips.
 The form of the chips is an important index of machining because it directly or
indirectly indicates :
 Nature and behaviour of the work material under machining condition

 Specific energy requirement (amount of energy required to remove unit

volume of work material) in machining work

 Nature and degree of interaction at the chip-tool interfaces.
Mechanism of chip formation in machining
5

 The form of machined chips depend mainly upon :

 Work material

 Material and geometry of the cutting tool

 Levels of cutting velocity and feed and also to some extent

on depth of cut
 Machining environment or cutting fluid that affects

temperature and friction at the chip-tool and work-tool

interfaces.
 Knowledge of basic mechanism(s) of chip formation helps to
understand the characteristics of chips and to attain favourable
chip forms.
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 Factors influencing the chip formation
6

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 Chip
7

Chip: is a removed material from parent material by

fracture

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 Chip formation affects
8

 Surface finish
 Cutting force
 Temperature
 Tool life and
 Dimensional tolerance

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 Mechanism of chip formation in machining ductile materials
9

 During continuous machining the uncut layer of the work material just
ahead of the cutting tool (edge) is subjected to almost all sided
compression as indicated in Fig.
• The force exerted by the tool on the chip
arises out of the normal force, N and
frictional force, F

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Mechanism of chip formation in machining brittle materials
10

 The basic two mechanisms involved in chip formation are

 Yielding – generally for ductile materials
 Brittle fracture – generally for brittle materials
 During machining,
 first a small crack develops at the tool tip as shown in Fig. due to
wedging action of the cutting edge. At the sharp crack-tip stress
concentration takes place.
 In case of ductile materials immediately yielding takes place at the
crack-tip and reduces the effect of stress concentration and prevents its
propagation as crack.
 But in case of brittle materials the initiated crack quickly propagates,
under stressing action, and total separation takes place from the parent
workpiece through the minimum resistance path
•
Machining of brittle material produces discontinuous chips and
mostly of irregular size and shape.

11

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Types of chips
12

1) Continuous chips
2) Continuous with build –up edge
3) Discontinuous (segmented) chips
4) Serrated chips

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 Continuous chips
13

 Continuous “ribbon” of metal that flows up the

chip/tool zone.
 Usually considered the ideal condition for efficient
cutting action
 Usually formed during cutting
ductile materials.
Ex. Al ,Mg, Cu.etc

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Continuous chips cont.
14

 Formed at high rake angle

 Good surface finish are generally produced
 Continuous chips are not always desirable ,
particularly in automated machines .
 They get tangled around a tool and the operations has
to be stopped to clear away
 Remedy- use of chip breaker

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Conditions which favors continuous types of chips
15

 Ductile work
 Fine feeds
 Sharp cutting tools
 Larger rake angle
 High cutting speed
 Proper coolant

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 Need and purpose of chip-breaking
16

 Continuous machining like turning of ductile metals, unlike brittle

metals like grey cast iron, produce continuous chips, which leads to
their handling and disposal problems. The problems become acute
when ductile but strong metals like steels are machined at high
cutting velocity for high MRR by flat rake face type carbide or
ceramic inserts.

 The sharp edged hot continuous chip that comes out at very high
speed
 becomes dangerous to the operator and the other people working in the
vicinity
 may impair the finished surface by entangling with the rotating job
 creates difficulties in chip disposal.
 Need and purpose of chip-breaking
17

 Therefore it is essentially needed to break such

continuous chips into small regular pieces for
 safety of the working people
 prevention of damage of the product
 easy collection and disposal of chips.

 Chip breaking is done in proper way also for the

additional purpose of improving machinability by
reducing the chip-tool contact area, cutting forces
and crater wear of the cutting tool.
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 Chip Breakers
18

 continuous and long chips are undesirable because

 they tend to become entangled,
 severely interfere with machining operations,
 and also become a potential safety hazard.
 the usual procedure employed to avoid such a
situation is to break the chip intermittently with
cutting tools that have chip-breaker features,

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Principles of chip-breaking
19

 In respect of convenience and safety, closed coil type

chips of short length and ‘coma’ shaped broken-to-half
turn chips are ideal in machining of ductile metals and
alloys at high speed.
 The principles and methods of chip breaking are generally
classified as follows :
 Self breaking
 This is accomplished without using a separate chip-breaker either as
an attachment or an additional geometrical modification of the tool.
 Forced chip breaking by additional tool geometrical features or
devices.
 Self breaking of chips
20

 Ductile chips usually become curled or tend to curl (like clock spring)
even in machining by tools with flat rake surface due to unequal speed
of flow of the chip at its free and generated (rubbed) surfaces and
unequal temperature and cooling rate at those two surfaces. With the
increase in cutting velocity and rake angle (positive) the radius of
curvature increases, which is more dangerous.

The curled chips may self break :

• By natural fracturing of the strain
hardened outgoing chip after sufficient
cooling and spring back as indicated in
Fig. This kind of chip breaking is
generally observed under the condition
close to that which favours formation of
jointed or segmented chips
 Self breaking of chips
21

 By striking against the cutting surface of the job, as shown in

Fig. (b), mostly under pure orthogonal cutting
 By striking against the tool flank after each half to full turn as
indicated in Fig. (c).

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Forced chip-breaking
22

 The hot continuous chip becomes hard and brittle at a distance

from its origin due to work hardening and cooling. If the running
chip does not become enough curled and work hardened, it may
not break. In that case the running chip is forced to bend or closely
curl so that it breaks into pieces at regular intervals. Such broken
chips are of regular size and shape depending upon the
configuration of the chip breaker.
 Chip breakers are basically of two types :
 In-built type
 Clamped or attachment type

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 Forced chip-breaking
23

(a) grove type

(b) Obstruction type Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Built-up-Edge (BUE) formation
24

 Causes of formation
 In machining ductile metals like steels with

long chip-tool contact length, lot of stress

and temperature develops in the secondary
deformation zone at the chip-tool interface.
Under such high stress and temperature in
between two clean surfaces of metals,
strong bonding may locally take place due
to adhesion similar to welding. Such
bonding will be encouraged and accelerated
if the chip tool materials have mutual
affinity or solubility. The weldment starts
forming as an embryo at the most
favourable location and thus gradually
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grows as schematically shown in Fig.
 Built-up-Edge (BUE) formation
25

 Characteristics of BUE
 Built-up-edges are characterized by its shape, size and bond
strength, which depend upon:
 work tool materials
 stress and temperature, i.e., cutting velocity and feed
 cutting fluid application governing cooling and lubrication.
 BUE may develop basically in three different shapes as
schematically shown in Fig.

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Built-up-Edge (BUE) formation
26

 In machining too soft and ductile metals by tools like high

speed steel or uncoated carbide the BUE may grow larger and
overflow towards the finished surface through the flank as
shown in Fig.
 While the major part of the detached BUE goes away along
the flowing chip, a small part of the BUE may remain stuck
on the machined surface and spoils the surface finish. BUE
formation needs certain level of temperature at the interface
depending upon the mutual affinity of the work-tool materials.
With the increase in VC and so the cutting temperature rises and
favours BUE formation.
 Continuous with built up edge
27

BUE formed when there is a chemical

affinity between the work piece and tool.
This type of chip is common in softer non-
ferrous metals and low carbon steels
Favorable growth conditions such as:
• High strain hardening
• Low speed
• Large depth of cut
• Low rake angle
• High temperature

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Continuous with built up edge
28
cont.
• BUE consists of layer of materials from
work piece that are gradually deposited on
the tool
• BUE becomes unstable and eventually
breaks up, but forms grains.
• It is carried away on the tool side of the chip
the rest is deposited on the work piece .This
results poor surface finish
• BUE, periodically will be break off and
removes the cutting tool
• Tool life will be reduced

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 BUE can be reduced by
29

 Increasing cutting speed

 Decreasing the feed rate
 Increasing the rake angle
 Use a sharp tool
 Reducing friction by applying cutting fluids
 Use a cutting tool that has lower chemical affinity
for the workpiece material.

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 Discontinuous chips
30

• Discontinuous chips consists of segments

that may be firmly or loosely attached to
each other
• The chips occur when machining hard
brittle materials such as cast iron
• Low rake angle and large depth of cut are
major causes
• Brittle failure takes place before any
tangible plastic deformation
• The discontinuous nature of the chips
forces vary continually leading to
vibration and chattering
• Chattering further results in poor surface
finish and loose of tolerance Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Discontinuous chips
31

Discontinuous chips usually form under the following

conditions:
 Brittle workpiece materials, because they do not have the capacity
to undergo the high shear strains involved in cutting.
 Workpiece materials that contain hard inclusions and impurities or
have structures such as the graphite flakes in gray cast iron
 Very low or very high cutting speeds.
 Large depths of cut.
 Low rake angles.
 Lack of an effective cutting fluid.
 Low stiffness of the tool-holder or the machine tool, thus allowing
vibration and chatter to occur.
Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Remedy for discontinuous chips
32

 Increase the rake angle

 Decrease the depth of cut
 Use medium cutting speed
 Use of cutting fluids to reduce friction

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Serrated chips
33

Are semi continuous with zones of high and

low shear strain
Metals with low thermal conductivity and
strength that decreases sharply with
temperature (thermal softening) exhibit this
behaviour,
Example , Titanium

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 Chip Curl
34

 In all cutting operations performed on metals, as well

as nonmetallic materials such as plastics and wood,
chips develop a curvature (chip curl) as they leave
the workpiece surface
 factors affecting the chip curl are
 The distribution of stresses in the primary and secondary
shear zones.
 Thermal effects.
 Work-hardening characteristics of the workpiece material.
 The geometry of the cutting tool.
 Cutting fluids. Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Controlled Contact on Tools.
35

 Cutting tools can be designed so that the tool-chip

contact length is reduced by recessing the rake
face of the tool some distance away from its tip.
 Reduction in contact length affects chip-formation
mechanics. Primarily
 it reduces the cutting forces and thus the energy and
temperature.
 Determining an optimum length is important, as
too small a contact length would concentrate the
heat at the tool tip, thus increasing wear.
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 The effect of speed in chip formation
36

(a) 2m/min, (b) 7 m/min, (c) 20 m/min, (d) 40 m/min

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 Geometry and characteristics of chip forms
37

 The geometry of the chips being formed at the cutting zone

follow a particular pattern especially in machining ductile
materials.
 The major section of the engineering materials being machined
are ductile in nature, even some semi-ductile or semi-brittle
materials behave ductile under the compressive forces at the
cutting zone during machining.

 The pattern and degree of deformation during chip formation are

quantitatively assessed and expressed by some factors, the values
of which indicate about the forces and energy required for a
particular machining work.
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 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
38

 The usual geometrical

features of formation of
continuous chips are
schematically shown in Fig.
 The chip thickness (a2)
usually becomes larger than
the uncut chip thickness (a1).
The reason can be attributed
to
 compression of the chip ahead
of the tool
 frictional resistance to chip
flow Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

39

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Chip reduction coefficient or
cutting ratio
40

 The significant geometrical

parameters involved in chip
formation are shown in Fig. and
those parameters are defined (in
respect of straight turning) as:

 t = depth of cut (mm) – perpendicular penetration of the cutting tool tip in

work surface
 fo = feed (mm/rev) – axial travel of the tool per revolution of the job
 b1 = width (mm) of chip before cut
 b2 = width (mm) of chip after cut
 a1 = thickness (mm) of uncut layer (or chip before cut)
 a2 = chip thickness (mm) – thickness of chip after cut
 A1 = cross section (area, mm2) of chip before cut
 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
41

 The degree of thickening of the chip is expressed by

a1= sosinφ
 where φ = principal cutting edge angle
 Larger value of ζ means more thickening i.e., more effort in terms of
forces or energy required to accomplish the machining work. Therefore
it is always desirable to reduce a2 or ζ without sacrificing productivity,
i.e. metal removal rate (MRR).
 Chip thickening is also often expressed by the reciprocal of ζ as,

 where, r = cutting ratio

 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
42

 The value of chip reduction coefficient, ζ (and hence cutting ratio)

depends mainly upon
 tool rake angle, γ

 chip-tool interaction, mainly friction,μ

 Roughly in the following way



 = [for orthogonal cutting]

 π/2 and γo are in radians
 The simple but very significant expression clearly depicts that the value
of ζ can be desirably reduced by
 Using tool having larger positive rake

 Reducing friction by using lubricant

 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
43

 The role of rake angle and friction at the chip-tool interface on

chip reduction coefficient are also schematically shown in

 Chip reduction coefficient, ζ is generally assessed and expressed by

the ratio of the chip thickness, after (a2) and before cut (a1)
 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
44

 But ζ can also be expressed or assessed by the ratio of

 Total length of the chip before (L ) and after cut (L )
1 2

 Cutting velocity, VC and chip velocity, Vf

 Considering total volume of chip produced in a given time,
a1b1L1 = a2b2L2
 The width of chip, b generally does not change significantly
during machining unless there is side flow for some adverse
situation.
 Therefore assuming, b1=b2 ζ comes up to be,

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Chip reduction coefficient or cutting ratio
45

 Again considering unchanged material flow (volume) ratio, Q

Q = (a1b1)VC = (a2b2)Vf
 Taking b1=b2,

 This Equation reveals that the chip velocity, Vf will be lesser than
the cutting velocity, VC and the ratio is equal to the cutting

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 Shear angle
46

 It has been observed that during machining, particularly ductile materials,

the chip sharply changes its direction of flow (relative to the tool) from the
direction of the cutting velocity, VC to that along the tool rake surface after
thickening by shear deformation or slip or lamellar sliding along a plane.
This plane is called shear plane and is schematically shown in Fig.
 Shear plane: Shear plane is the plane of separation of work material layer
in the form of chip from the parent body due to shear along that plane.
 Shear angle: Angle of inclination of the shear plane from the direction of
cutting velocity
 Shear angle
47

 The value of shear angle, denoted by βo (taken in orthogonal plane) depends

upon
 Chip thickness before and after cut i.e. ζ

 Rake angle, γ (in orthogonal plane)

o

 From Fig.
 AC = a2 = OAcos(βo-γo)
 And AB = a1 = OAsinβo
 Dividing a2 by a1

 Replacing chip reduction coefficient, ζ by cutting ratio, r, the equation changes

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to
 Shear angle(𝛟/β) and cutting ratio
48

tc
DE t
AD   c
cos  cos 
AD  AF  FD
E
AF  AD  DF
A DF  CF tan   t tan 
F D
t
tc
B C AF   t tan 
cos 
AB AB t
tan    
BC AF tc
 t tan 
cos 
t cos  r cos 
tan    c
tc  t sin  1  rc sin 
Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Shear angle and cutting ratio cont.
49

rc cos 
From tan  
1  rc sin 
tan   rc sin  tan   rc cos 
tan  sin  sin 
rc   
sin  tan   cos  sin  sin   cos  cos  cos(   )

Assuming part width does not change, volume constancy requires tl = tclc ,
where l is the chip length before cut and lc the chip length after cut.
Therefore, tV = tcVc , where v and vc are cutting speed and chip flow speed,
respectively. So we have
Shear angle can be determined experimentally knowing the cutting ratio and the rake angle
t Vc sin  l
rc     c
tc V cos(   ) l
Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
Velocity Diagram
50
A velocity diagram can be constructed as shown in
Vs the figure. Vs is the velocity at which shearing takes
Vc
90o- + place in the shear plane. Since
Vc sin 

90o-   V cos(   )
V Vc V V
We have  
sin  cos(   ) sin( 90o     )

Vc V Vs
and  
sin  sin( 90o     ) sin( 90o   )

Therefore, cos 
Vs  V
cos(   )

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021

 Shear Strain

51

AC AD DC
  
BD BD BD
 tan(   )  cot 
Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021
 Example
52

1. In a machining operation that approximates orthogonal

cutting, the cutting tool has a rake angle = 10. The chip
thickness before the cut to = 0.50 mm and the chip thickness
after the cut tc = 1.125 mm. Calculate the shear plane angle
and the shear strain in the operation.
2. The cutting conditions in a turning operation are: v = 2 m/s, f
= 0.25 mm, and d = 3.0 mm. The tool rake angle = 10° which
produces a deformed chip thickness tc = 0.54 mm.
Determine: (a) shear plane angle, (b) shear strain, and (c)
material removal rate. Use the orthogonal cutting model as
an approximation of the turning process.

Mechanics of machining 09/23/2021