Effect of Turning Parameters on Cutting Forces, Maximum Principal Stress, and Maximum Interfacial Temperature on Medium Carbon AISI 1045 Steel: Simulation and Comparative Studies

Medium carbon AISI 1045 steel is a hard to machine material attractive to the automotive and construction industries due to its high strength and excellent heat resistance. Finite element method (FEM) is used in this study to obtain the optimal parameters for turning AISI 1045 steel. The simulation data is obtained and analyzed using an L16 Taguchi orthogonal array (TOA). Three input parameters: cutting speed (A), depth of cut (B), and feed rate (C), and three responses: cutting forces (Cf), maximum interfacial temperature (Tmax), and maximum principal stresses (σmax) are considered and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimal conditions obtained are 60 m min−1 for A, 0.3 mm for B, and 0.4 mm rev−1 for C. The depth of cut and feed rate contribute the largest to the Cf (80.98%) and Tmax (38.56%), respectively. All the parameters contribute approximately equal toward the σmax. Comparison between the FEM values and literature experimental data shows that FEM can be used to predict optimal turning parameters with differences of ≈5%. This study gives a reference prediction model for the optimal machining parameters of medium carbon AISI 1045 steel and other related materials, which can be used, alongside experiments, to reduce the overall machining costs.