Manufacturing Processes for Advanced Materials

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Summary of Proposal The proposed research deals with high performance cutting of light-weight materials that are of major interest to the automotive and aerospace industries. An integrated research program is proposed that deals with two types of light-weight materials as follows; 1) High performance machining for advanced composite materials such as Carbon- Fiber Reinforced Polymers will be investigated. Preliminary experimental results have shown that carbon fiber pull-out, particle fracture, delamination and debonding at the fiber or particle matrix interface have significant influence on tool failure. There is a significant need to develop robust modeling approaches which can be used to optimize the cutting process. Finite element models will be developed to simulate the machining processes considering material characteristics, tool geometry, and cutting conditions. A comprehensive experimental program will validate these models and evaluate the performance of various advanced tool materials and geometries. Experimental work will be performed to study high performance cooling strategies including minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). Machinability maps will be developed to investigate the effect of cutting speeds and feeds. 2) Machinability of Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) focusing on the development of a fundamental scientific understanding of the effect of the microstructure on process variables for applications in the automotive industry. The finite element model previously developed by the applicant and his team, will be generalized to include various cutting tool materials and geometries, tool material degeneration due to wear as well as the effect of minor inclusions in the material on cutting performance. In particular, approaches to deal with the relatively poor machinability of CGI will be developed and investigated. The differences in the machinability of CGI compared to gray cast iron will also be considered in order to investigate the influence of material mechanical and physical properties, dictated by the shape, size, and growth mechanism of graphite in their microstructures. A wide-ranging experimental program will be performed to validate the generalized model developed above. These experiments will be designed to study chip formation, cutting forces and tool wear under various cutting conditions. These two materials (CFRP and CGI) were selected as examples of light-weight materials which are gaining prominence and cover a wide range of applications in both the automotive and aerospace industries. The methodologies developed as a result of this research can be used for process optimization, preserving part integrity and reducing sub-surface damage. The research proposed here is essential for dealing with some of the most important requirements for increasing productivity, improving fuel efficiency and environmental impact in these industries.