Abstract
Graphite/polymer composites are brittle materials, and tool wear, which has a significant impact on the quality of the machined surface of the material, is very serious during the cutting process. In general, the magnitude of the cutting force directly affects the tool wear; the larger the cutting force, the more severe the tool wear, which in turn affects the machined surface quality of graphite/polymer composites. Therefore, in this study, the effects of machining parameters on cutting forces during orthogonal cutting of graphite/polymer composites were investigated using single-factor and multifactor experiments with cutting speed, cutting thickness, tool rake angle, and rounded edge radius as influencing factors, and the parameters were optimized. The obtained results showed that reducing the cutting thickness and increasing the tool rake angle would significantly reduce the cutting force. During the orthogonal cutting process, when the tool had a small edge radius, the cutting force along the cutting direction was significantly larger than the cutting force along the vertical direction, and as the rounded edge radius increased, the cutting force in the vertical direction exceeded the cutting force in the cutting direction. Finally, the significance of the effect of different machining parameters on the cutting forces was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The obtained results showed that the cutting speed, cutting thickness, tool rake angle, and rounded edge radius were extremely significant for the cutting forces along the cutting direction as well as in the vertical direction during orthogonal cutting of graphite/polymer composites.