Multiscale simulation of nanometric cutting of single crystal copper —— effect of different cutting speeds

A multiscale simulation has been performed to determine the effect of the cutting speed on the deformation mechanism and cutting forces in nanometric cutting of single crystal copper. The multiscale simulation model, which links the finite element method and the molecular dynamics method, captures the atomistic mechanisms during nanometric cutting from the free surface without the computational cost of full atomistic simulations. Simulation results show the material deformation mechanism of single crystal copper greatly changes when the cutting speed exceeds the material static propagation speed of plastic wave. At such a high cutting speed, the average magnitudes of tangential and normal forces increase rapidly. In addition, the variation of strain energy of work material atoms in different cutting speeds is investigated.