Title: Unconstrained plastic flow at surfaces in sliding and cutting

Authors: A. Mahato; Y. Guo; N. Sundaram; T.G. Murthy; C. Saldana; S. Chandrasekar

Addresses: Center for Materials Processing and Tribology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2023, USA ' M4 Sciences LLC, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA ' Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA ' Center for Materials Processing and Tribology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2023, USA

Abstract: An in situ study of deformation and material removal at high-resolution in a model system of a hard steel wedge sliding against metals is described. The mesoscale system is representative of wear, and material removal processes typical of manufacturing. By combining high speed imaging with image correlation analysis, important characteristics of unconstrained plastic flow intrinsic to these processes are highlighted. These characteristics include unusual fluid-like flow, surface folding, a new mechanism of wear particle formation by folding, tears and crack-like features triggered by non-laminar surface flow, and large plastic strains on the surfaces and chip/wear particles. Implications for sliding wear and quality of surfaces generated by manufacturing processes are discussed. The results demonstrate also the power of the direct observational approach for characterising flow phenomena in these engineering systems.

Keywords: metal cutting; machining; unconstrained plastic flow; surfaces; plastic deformation; sliding wear; steel wedge; surface quality; high speed imaging; image correlation analysis; fluid flow; surface folding; wear particle formation; tears; cracks; non-laminar surface flow; large plastic strains.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTECH.2013.058258

International Journal of Precision Technology, 2013 Vol.3 No.4, pp.370 - 387

Published online: 11 Dec 2013 *

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