FE modelling of CFRP machining- prediction of the effects of cutting edge rounding

Manufacturing of carbon fibre components for the aerospace industry often requires an edge trimming operation for pre-assembly. In CFRP machining it is necessary to have a sharp cutting edge to prevent machining defects such as fibre pull-out, surface pitting, matrix burning and un-cut fibres. Counter to this requirement, carbon fibres, which are highly abrasive, generate rapid rounding of the cutting tool edge. In this work, generated machining forces due to cutting edge rounding, in a milling process, will be predicted by numerical simulation for different cutting edge radius. Models have implemented adaptive convergence control and progressive re-meshing of the tool-chip interface. FE models have been applied successfully to predict the effects of machining parameters with an unworn cutting tool, with a maximum difference of 28 % between FE and experiment. However, the prediction of cutting force was found to be under-predicted for the used cutting tool condition.