Effect of Wedge Tip Thickness of Nail Clipper on Cutting Characteristics of Polystyrene Ribbon

This research was aiming to investigate cutting characteristics of Polystyrene ribbon that were cut by nail clippers. A pair of rotational-linked fixture of recent designed JIG was developed for measuring the cutting load and displacement of nail clipper arm. Nail clippers had the upper apex angle of αU = 13°, αU' = 45° and lower apex angle of αL=20° and the lower biting edge thickness wL was chosen 0.06 and 0.25 mm. A 2-mm-width and 1-mm-thickness polystyrene ribbon was cut using the nail-clipper and the load response and the cut trace of sheared zone were investigated under the indentation velocity at V = 0.01 mm⋅s−1. A large force dropped and unstable crack was detected when using wL = 0.06 mm, while the force drop was disappeared without any large crack when wL = 0.25 mm due to the frictional restriction for fastening the work piece. While the peak line force was direct variation with tip thickness. When considered to vibration during cutting process by using AE sensor, nail clipper that have lower anvil thickness at 0.25 mm have lowest amplitude. Moreover, the cut traces were detected by microscope CCD camera.