Investigations on Strain Hardening During Cutting of Heat-Resistant Austenitic Stainless Steel

This study presents a novel analysis of the machined subsurface layer formation dealing with strain hardening phenomenon which results from complex mechanisms due to cutting edge multiple passes in drilling. On the one hand, the hardened layer during drilling is characterized in relation with the local cutting geometry and thanks to a quick-stop device (QSD) to suddenly interrupt the operation. Micro hardness is used to determine the hardened thickness of the machined subsurface layers along the local cutting edge geometry. On the other hand, orthogonal cutting performed with a complex self-designed planing experiment is used to investigate in details the hardening accumulation aspects. Then, dedicated methodologies are proposed to quantify the strain hardening as well as the incremental plastic strain generated by consecutive tool passes. In addition to the subsurface hardness evolution, the work material strain is observed during the steady-state cutting process thanks to the high-speed camera. The digital image correlation technique is exploited to analyze not only the plastic strain remaining on the workpiece after the cut but also the effect of the incremental plastic strain generated by the consecutive planing passes as the cutting edges in drilling do. One of the outcomes is that the hardened layer thickness can reach from two to three times the cut thickness in drilling or in planing. As a consequence, this work demonstrates that the cutting process affects itself by hardening. Thus, the studied austenitic stainless steel in such a way that this last is never cut in its initial state.