Generation Mechanism of Micro/Nano Machined Surfaces Based on Molecular Dynamics
A three-dimensional model of molecular dynamics (MD) was employed to study the nanometric cutting mechanism of monocrystalline copper. The model included the utilization of the Morse potential function to simulate the interatomic force. By analyses of the snapshots of the various stages of the nanometric cutting process, the generation and propagation of the dislocations around the tool are observed. Some of these dislocations are observed to travel through the entire depth of the workpiece. Those that could most escape completely through the machined surface due to elastic recovery were found to introduce atom step on the machined surface. By analyses of the cutting forces during the entire nanometric cutting process, significant fluctuations are observed in the cutting force curves. The stress distribution plots of the various stages of the nanometric cutting process show that the mechanism of chip formation is significantly different from the conventional shear ahead of the tool in the case of a polycrystalline material. Most atoms ahead of tool are compressed, but forces of one or two layers atoms contact the cutting tool are tensile. With the chip formation, a small tensile zone ahead of tool generates in the compression zone and moves with the tool.