Modeling and Numerical Simulation of the Cracking of a Diamond-Coated Cutting Tool during Machining

During the dry machining operation, the cutting tool is constantly subjected to extreme conditions in terms of thermal and mechanical stresses at the tool-chip interface. Indeed, the high temperature and the large plastic deformation affect and particularly accelerate the degradation of the state of the coating of the cutting tool. Thus, it becomes essential to predict the initiation and propagation of a crack in a coated tool. This makes it possible to optimize the cutting and loading conditions in order to improve the efficiency of the coating used and consequently the service life of the cutting tools.In this work, a finite element calculation code "ABAQUS / STANDARD" was used to study and analyze the cracking of a diamond-coated cutting tool. In this sense, we proposed to combine two methods often used to study the discontinuity at the tool-chip and coating-substrate interface. These are respectively the extended finite element method (XFEM) method and the cohesive element method. In addition, a parametric study on the impact of beak radius on cracking was performed to optimize this parameter.