CAD/CAE Numerical Modeling of Fiber-Reinforced 3D Woven Composite Parts and their Machining Process

Edge tools, such as drills, milling cutters, and turning tools, are increasingly used in the manufacture of parts made of 3D woven fiber-reinforced composite materials. The cutting process of non-rigid workpieces, such as turbine blades, is accompanied by noticeable elastic displacements which reduce the machining accuracy. To calculate cutting forces, chip formation should be simulated in the cutting zone, which significantly depends on the orientation of the workpiece fibers relative to the wedge of the cutting tool. Since workpiece deformations should be calculated selectively at separate points of the toolpath, the corresponding fragments of the workpiece with the specific fiber arrangement should be determined for cutting modelling. For this purpose, we need to develop a finite element model of the entire workpiece taking into account fibers and boundary layers and calculate the stress-strain state in the cutting zone during chip formation in the selected workpiece fragments. This research allowed solving these issues. We obtained mathematical relations for voxel modeling of the specified composite parts and calculation of their finite elements and developed computer programs to obtain the necessary geometric and physical models of chip formation mechanics. The calculations confirmed that the proposed numerical solutions are sufficient enough to be used by industrial production technologists to predict the accuracy of processing small-sized composite parts.