Title: Effects of interatomic potentials on the determination of the minimum depth of cut in nanomachining

Authors: A.O. Oluwajobi; X. Chen

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Osun-State 220005, Nigeria ' Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Laboratory, General Engineering Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

Abstract: The minimum depth of cut (MDC) is a major limiting factor on achievable accuracy in nanomachining, because the generated surface roughness is primarily attributed to the ploughing process when the uncut chip thickness is less than the MDC. This paper presents the material removal in a nanomachining process, where a sharp diamond tool with an edge radius of few atoms acts on a crystalline copper workpiece. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results show the phenomena of rubbing, ploughing and cutting. The formation of chip occurred from the depth of cut thickness of 1~1.5 nm. Also, the effects of the interatomic potentials on the MDC have been presented.

Keywords: minimum depth of cut; MDC; nanomachining; molecular dynamics; simulation; rubbing; ploughing; cutting; tool-workpiece interface; interatomic potentials; nanotechnology; surface roughness; surface quality; material removal; diamond tooling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2013.053165

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2013 Vol.6 No.1, pp.16 - 39

Received: 20 Nov 2012
Accepted: 21 Nov 2012

Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *

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