Difficult-to-Process Material: Structure, Properties and Cutting

Dear Colleagues,

Mechanical machining or cutting, as a subtractive manufacturing operation, is one of the most widely used manufacturing processes. Although some emerging manufacturing processes, such as additive manufacturing, have advanced beyond rapid prototyping to the manufacture of structural and functional components, the dominant role of cutting is still irreplaceable owing to its flexibility, good surface quality, high material removal rate, and the capability to machine nearly all types of materials. Material properties generally have contrary relationships with their machinability, and those materials with excellent thermal, physical, or mechanical properties are always difficult to process. With the rapid development of advanced engineering materials, new challenges have emerged in the field of cutting. The development of cutting of difficult-to-process materials will be aimed at improvements in production efficiency and product quality and at cost reduction. Revealing the “structure–property–cutting performance” relationships is pivotal to achieve a high production rate and surface quality. On the one hand, the intrinsic attributes of workpiece materials, including their structures and properties, are essential factors that determine their cutting performance. On the other hand, the final surface produced by cutting processes has unique structures and associated properties, which differ significantly from the original characteristics of the workpiece materials. It is thus urgent to gain deeper insights into the underlying relationships between the cutting process and material structure as well as machined surface integrity, in order to guarantee the cutting efficiency and final surface quality of difficult-to-process materials.

Therefore, the objective of this Special Issue is the publication of original research and review articles in the field of cutting performance of difficult-to-process materials and the relationships of “structure–property–cutting performance”. Papers that employ the symmetry or asymmetry concept in their methodologies in the fields of difficult-to-process material are welcomed. We also welcome scholars in related fields to contribute their latest research results to this Special Issue. Symmetric and asymmetric structures of difficult-to-process materials determine their specific deformation behavior and associated cutting performance. Understanding the symmetric and asymmetric characteristics of the processed materials can provide a deeper comprehension of their machinability as well as machined surface evolution.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following.

• Cutting mechanism and dynamic response of difficult-to-process materials;
• High-speed machining and ultra-high-speed machining of difficult-to-process materials;
• Machined surface integrity and evolution of material structure and properties during the cutting process;
• Development of new manufacturing technologies, such as cutting/milling/grinding/polishing/hybrid processing;
• Fundamentals about the relationships of “structure–property–cutting performance”;
• Design and fabrication of new manufacturing equipment and cutting tools;
• Machining mechanics, applications, and challenges;
• Nano/microfabrication technologies (i.e., laser, FIB, EDM, AFM);
• Assisted machining technologies such as ultrasonic-assisted machining (UAM), vibration-assisted machining (VAM), laser-assisted machining (LAM), etc.;
• Performance evaluation on the processed functional components made of difficult-to-process materials.

Prof. Dr. Zhanqiang Liu
Prof. Dr. Bing Wang
Prof. Dr. Peirong Zhang
Prof. Dr. Guosheng Su
Guest Editors

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