Influence of Free Surface Environment on the Shear Zone in Metal Cutting

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Abstract
It has previously been suggested that the reduction in cutting forces obtained by the presence of fluids such as CCl4 on the backface or free surface of the forming chip was due to diffusion of the fluid into the body of the chip in the region of the shear zone. In the present work, experiments with carbon tetrachloride tagged with carbon-14 and with carbon tetrachloride tagged with chlorine-36 were performed with the object of assessing the extent of diffusion of lubricants into the chip when present on the free surface only. The results obtained disprove former hypotheses and suggest that the reduced cutting force is due solely to chemical reaction at the surface of the chip. Confirmation of the sensitivity of the surface of the deforming shear zone to change in surface condition was obtained by removing metal from this region by an electropolishing technique during slow speed cutting. By varying the electropolishing conditions increased or decreased cutting forces could be obtained. It is proposed that the result both of chemical reaction at the surface and of surface removal is to reduce the strain-hardening rate of the metal undergoing shear by reducing the surface barrier to the flow of dislocations out of the metal. The association of the surface reaction of carbon tetrachloride with a change in the strain-hardening characteristics of the metal in the shear zone leads to a classification of the backface phenomenon as a Rehbinder effect and enables this effect to be more closely defined than was hitherto possible. Evidence is also presented which indicates that the backface effect does not contribute to the reduction in cutting forces during rakeface lubrication and is therefore unimportant in practice where flood lubrication of the cutting region invariably occurs.

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