Atomistic analysis of discontinuous deformation during cutting processes

The aim of this work was to analyze the influence of the micro-structural properties on the nanometer level material removal process. For this purpose atomistic models for a ductile and a semi-brittle metal were set up and molecular dynamics simulations were performed. The ductile material showed a discontinuous cyclic process for the chosen orientation, where chip formation and pre-deformation zone growth alternated at a 90 ps period. For the semi-brittle material, the process is governed by a strong localization of the deformation to the contact area and a cyclic change of the chip cross-section at a period of about 120 ps.