Numerical Modelling of High Energy Density Beam-Assisted Machining of Hardened Armour Steel

High energy density beam-assisted machining (HEDBAM) finds huge applications in machining of difficult-to-machine materials such as hardened steels and super alloys. Among these materials, armour steel is widely deployed in military and civil applications where resistance to ballistic protection is essential. In the present work, a numerical model is developed to investigate HEDBAM of high hardness armour steel. A fully coupled thermo-mechanical analysis model is developed for predicting the cutting forces and thrust forces using commercial software Abaqus/Explicit. The developed model for orthogonal cutting is validated with previously published literature on thermally assisted machining of titanium alloy with a maximum error of 9%. Further, the model is extended to of armour steel at four different temperature levels (20, 220, 420 and 620 °C), and a maximum reduction in 19 and 24% in the cutting and thrust force, respectively, is obtained at 620 °C. The work paves way for HEDBAM of different hardened high strength materials.