Metallurgical Aspects of Material Behaviour in Cutting of AISI 1045

This contribution first aims at providing a more detailed analysis of the cutting mechanisms of a normalized carbon steel from a microscopic and metallurgical point of view. SEM and EBSD are used to highlight, in the main intensive deformation zones of the chip, a drastic grain refinement induced by a dynamic recrystallization process. The second part of this study intends to emphasize the consequences of the latter on the workmaterial behaviour. A rheological study based on dynamic compression tests is briefly presented and enables to understand their occurrence as well as their influence on the flow stress of the material. A "metallurgy based" constitutive equation is identified to reach a better description of the flow stress. Finally, this one is implemented in a Finite Element code (Abaqus/Explicit) to assess the potential of this method. It is shown that microstructural evolutions could be relatively well predicted especially when considering the level of recrystallization.