Molecular dynamics simulation of heat distribution during nanometric cutting process

In nanometric cutting process the actual material removal can take place at atomic level, which makes the acquisition of heat distribution difficult or impossible, however a detailed investigation of heat distribution is crucial for understanding the nature of material removal mechanisms, chip formation and surface generation etc. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) is used to study heat distribution during nanometric cutting of single-crystal silicon with the aid of Tersoff potential. The MD calculation data are converted into continues heat distribution and showed with different colors in 3D images under various cutting parameters. The result of the simulation shows that there is a narrow region with high temperature under tool edge where most of heat generated due to plastic deformation of workpiece material, the high temperature extends from here to chip, diamond tool and workpiece, but the highest temperature lies in chip. The heat distribution is roughly concentric around the tool edge and a steep temperature gradient is observed between diamond tool and chip. A higher temperature region below the tool edge implied a larger shear stress is built up in a local region at high cutting speed with a rougher machined surface behind than at low cutting speed.