Some considerations on the fe simulation of orthogonal cutting using different classes of numerical codes

Numerical simulation of machining is now evolving toward new directions, in particular taking into account 3D applications. On the other hand, some aspects are still not well solved and different software are today available to carry out fundamental analysis on orthogonal cutting. Some of these codes are very user-friendly but don't allow any tuning of the parameters. Other ones, are "open codes" and permit a suitable set-up of the parameters, allowing the possibility to reach better results even if their use is reserved to the specialists. However, both the categories are affected by some problems when the analysis of different parameters is run. Probably global considerations on all the database on which these codes are based are interesting as well as any discussion about the implemented mathematical formulation. Some of the above aspects, in particular focused on the role played by friction, are discussed in the paper. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.