Modelling thermal effects in machining of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites

Machining-induced damage is commonly observed when manufacturing components based on carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. Despite the importance of thermal effects in machining CFRPs, this problem has been poorly analyzed in the literature. Predictive tools are not available for thermal phenomena involved during cutting, while only few experimental studies have been found. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of orthogonal machining of CFRPs including thermal effects is presented. Predicted thermal and mechanical intralaminar damage showed strong influence of fiber orientation. Thermally affected area was larger than mechanically damaged zone. This fact confirms the importance of accounting for thermal effects when modelling CFRP machining.The authors acknowledge the financial support for the work to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain under the projects DPI2011-25999 and DPI2010-15123.Publicad