Practical interpretation of cutting in machining Physical, energetic, technical and digital approaches

Industrial machining production techniques are constantly evolving. They are currently being challenged by the emergence of new production techniques and technologies.

Additive manufacturing, for example, a production technology that opposes machining (adding versus removing material), is changing the way mechanical parts are designed and produced.

The democratization of digital machining is also introducing "data" as a key piece of production information that needs to be increasingly tamed, whether from the point of view of manufacturers (of machines, cutting tools, etc.) or industrial users. "Data" via "artificial intelligence" and "machine learning" is likely to play a major role in ensuring the long-term future of machining operations, on the sole condition that it resolves the problem of the "data vanity" and with it the ability to stop analyzing everything and anything and drawing no important conclusions from it.

In this context, "the cut", the primary object of a machining operation, is a subject that can support these developments and accompany the machining of the present and the future. And with good reason: the action of the cutting tool on the machined component causes thermomechanical loading, leading to shearing and fragmentation of the machined material. Under these conditions, the cutting environment is subject to strong constraints which it is important to understand and control in order to optimize the efficiency of the machining operation and thus achieve the targeted objectives (cost/quality/time). Controlling a material removal operation requires a good understanding of the material's machinability, the effect of operating conditions and the characteristics of the cutting tool.

This article proposes to understand how, from theory to practice, through the use of new digital technologies, "cutting" can be a lever for industrial competitiveness. The notion of "cutting" as seen through the eyes of the machined material will not be directly and exhaustively addressed in this article, but is dealt with at length in the following article. [M 725] "machining and machinability".

In the first part, a description of the tool/material interaction describes the process of chip formation and the basic physical mechanisms involved.

In the second part, a description of the The cutting tool distinguishes the technical complexity that must be mastered in order to achieve the best possible technical and economic return.

The third section describes the cutting data helps us to understand...