Tomasz Ochrymiuk

Application of fracture mechanics for energetic effects predictions while wood sawing

In the classical approach, energetic effects (cutting forces and cutting power) of wood sawing process are generally calculated on the basis of the specific cutting resistance, which is in the case of wood cutting the function of more or less important factors. On the other hand, cutting forces (or power—more interesting from energetic point of view) could be considered from a point of view of modern fracture mechanics. Cutting forces may be employed to determine not only toughness but also shear yield strength, which are then applied in the models. Furthermore, forecasting of the shear plane angle for the cutting models, which include fracture toughness in addition to plasticity and friction, broadens possibilities of energetic effects modelling of the sawing process even for small values of the uncut chip. Mentioned models are useful for estimation of energetic effects of sawing of every kinematics. However, for band saws and circular sawing machines, the chip acceleration power variation as a function of mass flow and tool velocity ought to be included in analysis of sawing at larger cutting speeds.

A newly-developed model for predicting cutting power during wood sawing with circular saw blades

In the classical approach, cutting forces and cutting power in sawing processes of orthotropic materials such as wood are generally calculated on the basis of the specific cutting resistance kc (cutting force per unit area of cut). For every type of sawing kinematics (frame saws, band saws and circular sawing machines) different empirical values of specific cutting resistance kc have to be applied. It should be emphasised that sources in the scientific literature and handbooks do not provide any information about wood provenance, nor about cutting conditions in which cutting resistance had been determined. In analyses of sawing processes in which the offcut is formed by shear, Atkins’s ideas that all cutting forms a branch of elastoplastic fracture mechanics can be applied. Thanks to this modern approach it was possible to reveal, using experimental results data of fracture toughness and shear yield stresses of Polish pine (Pinus sylvestris), the significant effect of the raw material provenance (source of wood) on cutting power. In the common model for circular sawing machine kinematics, which is similar to metal milling, the sum of all uncut chip thicknesses of the all the teeth simultaneously engaged represented the mean uncut chip thickness. In this work predictions of the newly-developed model for the circular sawing machine are presented. In the model, beside uncut chip thicknesses changes, appropriate changes in shear yield stress and toughness with tooth/grain orientation have been taken into account. The conducted analyses have demonstrated that values of RMS of cutting power obtained with the new developed model are slightly larger than experimental values. On the other hand computed values of cutting power with the use of the mean uncut chip thicknesses in the model are a bit lower from the empirical one.

Development of the in-field sensor for estimation of fracture toughness and shear strength by measuring cutting forces

Knowledge on the fracture properties of materials is essential to assure structural integrity and proper design of mechanical connections in timber constructions. Measurement of this property is, however, a very challenging task. The linear fracture mechanics is usually used for its assessment assisted with experimental data acquired by means of various techniques, usually of destructive nature. The cutting force is an energetic effect of splitting material, and might be therefore considered from a point of view of modern fracture mechanics. The original methodology of simultaneous determination of the fracture toughness and of the shear yield strength on the basis of cutting forces was adopted here for timber characterisation. The set of experimental data was generated in a simple cutting test by using slightly modified off the shelf instrumentation. The resulting data are the slope and intercept of linear regression function of cutting forces versus chip thickness estimated for five European wood species. Both parameters are usable for computation of fracture toughness and shear yield strength in the shear plane, separately for two anatomical directions of wood. The simplicity and reliability of this method provides a wide range of practical applications, including structural health assessment of the timber structures.