Molecular dynamics simulations of thermal effects in nanometric cutting process

Understanding the basic action of how material removing in nanoscale is a critical issue of producing well-formed components. In order to clarify thermal effects on material removal at atomic level, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of nanometric cutting of mono-crystalline copper are performed with Morse, EAM and Tersoff potential. The effects of cutting speed on temperature distribution are investigated. The simulation results demonstrate that the temperature distribution shows a roughly concentric shape around shear zone and a steep temperature gradient lies in diamond tool, a relative high temperature is located in shear zone and machined surface, but the highest temperature is found in chip. At a high cutting speed mode, the atoms in shear zone with high temperature implies a large stress is built up in a local region.