Atomic scale insights into material removal mechanisms in nanoscale machining of copper beryllium

The heterogeneous nature of the copper beryllium (CuBe) workpiece because of the presence of hard particles tends to affect material removal. When machining a CuBe material, it is anticipated that the mechanism of cutting and surface formation may differ from those seen when cutting a homogenous Cu material. Although these mechanisms are popular for the diamond turning of homogeneous materials, they have not been thoroughly studied in relation to CuBe alloys, which contain hard beryllium precipitates. Therefore, the effect of hard particles in the workpiece specimen on the nano-regime diamond turning of CuBe alloy needs to be understood. To explain the influence of Beryllium (Be) particles on the cutting tool and the workpiece surface, a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed. It is revealed that the material removal mechanism in the case of CuBe is phase-dependent. Ductile machining is dominant in the Cu phase, and brittle fracture is dominant in the Be rich phase. It is also observed that the a/r ratio equal to 1 is suitable for cutting in the Cu phase and for ductile regime machining conditions in the Be phase. The a/r ratio higher than 1 causes higher cutting forces, and thus shear plane cutting takes place, which leads to a higher amount of material removal.