Effect of crystal orientations on nanocutting based on quasicontinuum multiscale method

Nanocutting is one of the most important ultra–precision machining methods to obtain complex optical elements with high quality finish. Molecular dynamics is widely used to investigate the nanocutting mechanism due to the nano–scale cutting depth. For high efficiency and large scale simulation, multiscale method is significantly necessary. Quasicontinuum (QC) multiscale method, using the embedded atom method (EAM), is applied to study the effect of crystal orientation on nanometric cutting of single crystal copper. The results show that the generation and emission of dislocation and the distribution of residual stress in workpiece strongly depend on the crystal orientation and cutting direction. It is recommended to fabricate a higher quality surface when the cutting direction is along [10<span style="text–decoration: overline">1</span>] on crystal orientation (111). Finally, it is proved that QC method is an efficient approach to study the nanocutting mechanism.