Cutting Forces in Orthogonal Cutting of Unidirectional GFRP Composites

The results of orthogonal cutting tests carried out on unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic composites, using HSS tools, are presented and discussed. During the tests, performed on a milling machine at very low cutting speed to avoid thermal effects, the cutting speed was held constant and parallel to the fibre direction. Three parameters, namely the tool rake angle α, the tool relief angle γ, and the depth of cut t, were varied. According to the experimental results, the horizontal force per unit width, F_hu, undergoes a dramatic decrease, never verified for metals, with increasing α. Besides, F_hu is only negligibly affected by the relief angle, and linearly increases with t. Similarly to metals, an effect of the depth of cut on the specific energy (size effect) is found also for composites. However, the presented results indicate that the size effect can be analytically modeled in a simple way in the case of composites. The vertical force per unit width, F_vu, exhibits a marked reduction when the relief angle is increased. F_vu, is also very sensitive to the rake angle: the lower α the higher is F_vu. It is shown that this behavior probably reflects a strong influence of the rake angle on the forces developing at the flank. A linear dependence of the vertical force on the depth of cut is also demonstrated. Finally, the experimental data are utilized to obtain empirical formulae, allowing an approximate evaluation of cutting forces.