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A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials

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DOI: 10.1007/s11465-018-0504-z

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Front. Mech. Eng.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-018-0504-z

REVIEW ARTICLE

Elijah Kwabena ANTWI, Kui LIU, Hao WANG

A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials

© The Author(s) 2018. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn

Abstract Brittle materials have been widely employed optical, physical and chemical properties. Also, there are
for industrial applications due to their excellent mecha- rapid growing demands on manufacturing of brittle
nical, optical, physical and chemical properties. But materials achieving a good quality surface finish, stringent
obtaining smooth and damage-free surface on brittle geometry accuracy, and surface integrity with less or free
materials by traditional machining methods like grinding, of subsurface damage. Meanwhile, to reduce the manu-
lapping and polishing is very costly and extremely time facturing cost in the production of these components and
consuming. Ductile mode cutting is a very promising way devices made by brittle materials, effectively machining of
to achieve high quality and crack-free surfaces of brittle these materials is very much demanded. Traditionally,
materials. Thus the study of ductile mode cutting of brittle abrasive processes such as grinding, lapping and polishing
materials has been attracting more and more efforts. This have been widely used for the final surface finishing of
paper provides an overview of ductile mode cutting of these brittle materials. The demerits associated with these
brittle materials including ductile nature and plasticity of processes include poor grindability, high manufacturing
brittle materials, cutting mechanism, cutting characteris- cost, and subsurface damage [1]. Furthermore, the abrasive
tics, molecular dynamic simulation, critical undeformed processes will cause surface flatness deviation due to its
chip thickness, brittle-ductile transition, subsurface uncontrollable material removal resulting in the machined
damage, as well as a detailed discussion of ductile mode profile inaccuracy [2]. Therefore, after grinding and
cutting enhancement. It is believed that ductile mode lapping processes, the chemical-mechanical polishing
cutting of brittle materials could be achieved when both (CMP) is essential to remove the subsurface damage
crack-free and no subsurface damage are obtained layer caused by the hard abrasive particles, which makes a
simultaneously. very costly production [3]. Also, these abrasive processes
especially like CMP are extremely slow, whiles grinding
Keywords ductile mode cutting, brittle materials, critical and lapping processes would impart subsurface damage
undeformed chip thickness, brittle-ductile transition, sub- leading to a degraded surface integrity [4].
surface damage, molecular dynamic simulation In order to improve the surface integrity of these
materials, ductile mode cutting (DMC), also called ductile
regime cutting or ductile cutting, as a promising technique,
1 Introduction has been studied vigorously over the past decades and it is
commonly understood that DMC is to remove work
Brittle material like glass, silicon, tungsten carbide (WC), materials by plastic flow instead of brittle fracture deriving
germanium and silicon nitride have been widely employed a damage-free surface. As a result, the subsequent
in the industries such as precision engineering, optics, polishing process is no longer necessary or the polishing
instruments, semi-conductor and micro-electromechanical time can largely reduced because the crack-free surfaces
systems (MEMS) because of its excellent mechanical, can be directly produced by DMC without subsurface
damage or the subsurface damage layer thickness being
much smaller, which would significantly reduce the
Received May 24, 2017; accepted November 29, 2017
manufacturing time and cost for brittle materials. This
Elijah Kwabena ANTWI, Hao WANG advantage cannot be under addressed because in machin-
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of
Singapore, Singapore
ing even a minor improvement in productivity would lead
to a major impact in mass production. A schematic
✉
Kui LIU ( )
comparison between DMC and BMC (brittle mode
cutting) of brittle materials helps to reveal the underlying
Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore
E-mail: kliu@simtech.a-star.edu.sg mechanisms as shown in Fig. 1. The fundamental premise
2 Front. Mech. Eng.

alternative way for finishing of brittle materials as it could

produce crack-free mirror surface finish at a much higher
efficiency and lower cost than polishing processes owing
to its high material removal rate.
This paper will summarize the following key points in
DMC of brittle materials: Ductile nature and plasticity of
brittle materials, DMC mechanism, and DMC characte-
ristics including critical undeformed chip thickness, chip
morphology, surface finish and tool wear, as well as
molecular dynamic simulation in cutting of brittle
materials. Finally, the last two sessions give an overall
discussion and summary of DMC of brittle materials.

2 Ductile nature and plasticity of brittle

materials
Ductility of a material is defined as the material’s ability to
undergo permanent deformation through elongation (area
reduction in the cross section) or bending without
fracturing, while plasticity is defined as the material’s
deformation, which undergoes non-reversible changes of
shape in response to applied forces and/or loading. All
1–Abrasive grain; 2–Ductile chip removal; 3–Metallic phase;
materials exhibit the ductile nature no matter how brittle
4–Machined layer; 5–Brittle chip removal; 6–Microcracks
they are, save for the fact that the extent of ductility or
Fig. 1 Schematic diagrams of two cutting modes for brittle plasticity varies for different materials [17]. In evaluating
materials [5]. (a) DMC by removing a ductile metallized layer the ductility of a material, an indentation test has been most
resulted from the large contact pressure in cutting region; (b) BMC employed in tandem with other processes such as
by material fracture leaving subsurface damages, of which the scratching and grinding.
subsurface damage is as deep as 5–10 µm due to crack One of the typical brittle materials, glass, exhibits
propagations in machining of silicon plasticity or ductile behaviour in the micro-indentation test
with concentrated loads at a point, known as microplas-
of ductile mode cutting states that all brittle material will ticity [18]. Auerbach’s law, the linear dependence between
experience a transition from DMC to BMC when cutting cracking load and indenter’s diameter, was reported to be a
from zero depth of cut (DoC) to a large value regardless its direct consequence of the brittle-ductile transition pro-
hardness and brittleness. When cutting below the critical duced [19]. Indentation on the soda-lime glass at different
undeformed chip thickness (UCT), the energy consumed loads using a Vicker’s pyramid indenter indicated that
for crack prorogation is larger than that for plastic above a certain critical loading cracking was favourable
deformation, DMC will be achieved in brittle materials while below the critical loading plastic flow was possible
successfully [6]. [20]. Indentation method was also used to evaluate the
The idea of ductile mode machining and its concept plastic deformation of brittle materials at high hydrostatic
appearing in the literature was first reported by King and pressure [21–24]. A schematic illustration is shown in
Tabor [7] in 1954, where the material removal in abrasive Fig. 2 for the elastic-plastic behaviour of brittle materials
wear of rock salt occurred as a result of removing a under indentation [21]. Indentation testing at light loadings
plastically deformed layer rather than a brittle fracture, shows that in the region immediately below the indenter,
although some cracking and fragmentation were still the material expands and exerts pressure to the surround-
observed. Later in 1976, Huerta and Malkin [8] were the ings. This creates a uniform hydrostatic pressure around
first to show reproducible results of diamond grinding of that region and the material flows according to a yielding
glass in a ductile mode, which considerably improved the criterion. An elastic matrix lies beyond this plastically
surface quality and machining accuracy. Later, precision deformed region.
grinding of brittle materials in a ductile mode had been The ductile behaviour of brittle materials below the
extended to others such as silicon and ceramics. Further indenter could be due to phase transformation mechanism,
improvements in ultra-precision machining technology in where the characteristic phase of brittle solid transits into a
the 1990s marked the progression for DMC to be applied metallic phase under the influence of hydrostatic pressure.
in more advanced brittle materials such as different types This concept was verified by measuring the electrical
of carbides [9–16]. Ductile mode cutting thus became an conductivity of the material near the indenter tip during the
 Elijah Kwabena ANTWI et al. A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials 3

larger UCT, which may cause the material removal in the

brittle-ductile transition manner. Nakasuji et al. [28] and
Shimada et al. [22] proposed a possible material removal
mechanism, which can be classified into two modes in
cutting of brittle materials. One is due to plastic
deformation in the characteristic slip direction and another
is due to brittle fracture on the characteristic cleavage
plane. When DoC scale becomes smaller, such as in the
sub-micrometer or nanometer range, both stresses sc and
tc increase to the same order as a perfect material’s
intrinsic strength. Thus, plastic deformation takes place
Fig. 2 An indentation model of elastic-plastic behaviour [21] before cleaving.
During the process of indentation, pyramidal indenter is
indentation process of brittle materials. The measurement categorized as sharp-type indenter and spherical indenter
results revealed a substantial increase in the conductivity of as blunt-type. If indentation-sliding is applied to simulate
the material below the indenter that can be plastically ultra-precision cutting, grinding, or polishing, all these
deformed, which supports the theory of transition to a indenters do fall into the category of sharp indenters as its
metallic state [25,26]. edge radius or grit size is extremely small to be ignored.
Shaw [29] proposed a material removal mechanism that
heavy extrusion happened ahead of a large edge radius tool
3 Ductile mode cutting mechanism and Komanduri [30] proposed a mechanism like in
grinding to cut using tools with a large negative rake
The concept of DMC material removal is based on the angle. The cutting modes were studied through grooving
hypothesis that all brittle material will experience a brittle- tests on an inclined plane using a solid cutter [31]. As
ductile mode transition in cutting with an UCT below the shown in Fig. 3 where DBT is the abbreviation for
critical value. Some mechanisms in DMC are described “ductile-to-brittle transition”, the critical DoC in grooving
below in details. of tungsten carbide was obtained in average of 4.76 µm.
One understanding of material removal mechanism can Puttick et al. [32] proposed similar models but including
be illustrated by indentation-sliding analysis [20,27]. The the case of nanometric cutting of a nominally brittle
material removal happens in four stages. (a) Material under material like silicon. Acoustic emission (AE) signals were
indenter started to subject an elastic deformation. This monitoring in micro grinding of glass and germanium [33]
creates a small elastic deformation zone due to high because of brittle materials having distinct AE energy
hydrostatic pressure below the indenter. (b) Radial/median when machining in different modes. This bond-breaking
cracks formed on a plane at the elastic-plastic boundary energy in DMC is greater than that in BMC; hence, the AE
when further increasing the loading. (c) Lateral cracks energy could be utilized to characterize the brittle-ductile
formed in an addition to radial/median cracks, which transition.
spread outward from the deformation zone, beneath the
indentation surface, and may interact with the radial
system. (d) When severely loaded those cracks turn
upward to intersect the free surface, thereby causing severe
disruption of the pattern by chipping. Residual stresses are
the main cause of lateral cracking and eventually resulted
in the material removal by fracturing. In the nanometer
scale cutting of silicon using a diamond tool, this mode of
material removal must be avoided as much as possible to
eliminate brittle fracture and consequent micro-crack
formation on or near the machined surface.
More work on DMC of brittle materials has been
reported, but the nature of brittle-ductile transition is not
very clear. A systematic study of the machining mecha-
nism is of theoretical significance and practical value-
added. Many studies have been developing into under-
standing the brittle-ductile transition phenomenon and
revealing their mechanism. One view of brittle-ductile
transition is based on cleavage fracture due to pre-existing Fig. 3 Schematic diagram illustrated brittle-ductile transition in
flaws [28]. Also, a larger DoC would definitely result in a grooving [31]
4 Front. Mech. Eng.

Nanoscratch test was conducted on the (111) plane of fracture criterion. The critical UCT dc is expressed by
single crystal GGG (Gd3Ga5O12) along < 110 > direction

with different indentation depth [34]. Its material removal E Kc 2
dc ¼ ψ , (1)
mechanism can be divided into four stages: A plastic flow H H
zone formed through the combination of “polycrystalliza-
where E is the material’s Young’s modulus, H is hardness,
tion of nanocrystalline” and “amorphous transformation”
Kc is fracture toughness, and y is material’s brittle-ductile
when the normal scratch force is very small; micro crack
transition factor, which is varied for different brittle
zone formed showing bifurcation and deflection in
materials [40].
propagation when increasing the normal force; median
Similarly, Blake and Scattergood [41] and Blackley and
crack generated by the severe slip of crystal planes further
Scattergood [42] also developed a turning model consider-
increasing normal force; and transverse cracks generated
ing the damaged depth, as shown in Fig. 4. Ultra-precision
when unloading. The scratch normal force and velocity
cutting of glass was conducted using a diamond tool with
would affect the residual depth of the scratch, deformation
nose radius of 0.8 mm to evaluate its cutting performance
of micro-fracture and burrs in the scratch of glass BK7 as
[43]. Figure 5 showed scanning electron microscope
well [35]. In partial ductile mode of silicon, the self-
(SEM) photograph of the groove surface achieved in
healing of microcracks, microfractures and small spallings
turning of soda-lime glass, and further confirmed the above
could take place by filling the defect cavities with the
turning model, where the smooth center area was achieved
ductile metallic silicon phase in reality [36]. The material
in DMC and two fractured side areas were obtained in
removal mechanism in diamond turning of reaction-
BMC. With this model, Eq. (2) was derived to determine
bonded silicon carbide involves ductile cutting, cleavage
the critical UCT dc and damage depth yc with the given tool
cracking and SiC grain dislodgement [37]. The material
radius R, tool feed f and the ductile-brittle transition
removal manner depends on the SiC grain size and depth
location Ze.
and the grain boundaries bonding strength. A slip model
based on the slip orientation factor was proposed to Ze2 – f 2 dc2 dc þ yc
qualitatively describe the ductile mode turning mechanism ¼ –2 : (2)
R2 f2 R
of single crystal silicon [38]. The crystallographic orienta-
tion also changed with DoC due to the difference in
material removal mechanism between plastic deformation
and brittle fracture.
When cutting of brittle materials at a DoC being
sufficiently small, its tool cutting edge radius R normally
in micron scale, will be at the same order with the used
DoC ao. Thus, the actual cutting edge will be the arc edge,
and the straight cutting edge will not be involved in cutting
regardless its nominal rake angle g being positive or
negative. In fact, its actual working rake angle gne is
always large negative, which is resulting in a large
compressive stress in the cutting region. In this scenario,
work material fracturing due to pre-existing defects will be
Fig. 4 A turning model considering the damaged depth [43]
suppressed by the large cutting compressive stress under-
took in the cutting region, meanwhile plastic deformation
will dominate the chip formation [13]. DMC is like the
plastic extrusion taken place ahead of the tool. As a result,
DMC will be achieved successfully in cutting of brittle
materials accordingly.

4 Ductile mode cutting characteristics

4.1 Critical undeformed chip thickness

The critical UCT in DMC is the chip thickness in which

permanent material removal takes place without fracturing
or cracking in cutting of brittle materials. Equations have
also been reported to determine this critical UCT. Given by Fig. 5 SEM photograph of the groove surface achieved in
Biffano et al. [39], a model was derived based on Griffith turning of soda-lime glass [43]
 Elijah Kwabena ANTWI et al. A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials 5

Machining experiments were performed to develop a 4.2 Chip morphology

model calculating the chip thickness [14,33,44]. As shown
in Fig. 6, the maximum UCT dmax is given by Ref. [44]. In DMC, one key characteristic feature is the nature of chip
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi formation. Actually, the apparent departure of DMC from
brittle mode machining is its characteristics of chip
dmax ¼ R – R2 þ f 2 – 2f 2Rao – a2o , (3)
morphology. In this connection, a considerable number
of publications dealt with the studies of chip formation
where ao is the depth of cut.
mechanism and chip structure in the course of DMC
[14,45]. Figure 7 [14] showed the SEM photographs of
chip formed in machining of tungsten carbide, where layer-
type chips was obtained when machining with a maximum
UCT dmax of 920 nm (Fig. 7(a)), and particle-type chips
obtained when machining under a maximum UCT dmax of
1164 nm (Fig. 7(b)). Figure 8 [45] showed the SEM
photographs of chip formed in machining of single crystal
silicon, where layer-type chips was obtained when
machining with a maximum UCT of 20 nm (Fig. 8(a)),
and particle-type chips obtained when machining under a
maximum UCT of 690 nm (Fig. 8(b)). The experimental
results on cutting of silicon and tungsten carbide
apparently confirmed that DMC can be achieved.
A comprehensive investigation was done to study the
chip formation and chip structure in turning of silicon. The
studies were conducted using SEM, TEM (transmission
electron microscope) and Raman micro-spectroscopy.
Three different cutting chip structures, fully lamellar
amorphous structure, amorphous structure with traces of
crystals, and partially amorphous with residues of crystal-
line material, were analyzed using electron diffraction [46].
Moreover, it was indicated that up to five structural phases
of silicon may be revealed in one chip particle. Based on
this analysis, an assumption was formulated that the
Fig. 6 Schematic illustration of DMC chip formation [43]. mechanism of the material removal may vary from shear to
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
(a) 2Rao – a2o £f ; (b) 2Rao – a2o > f extrusion depending on the position of the contacting
silicon along the tool cutting edge. This, in turn, was
Although some works have been done to determine the caused by the different combination of shear and
critical UCT in DMC, so as to avoid experimental trial and compressive stresses in the contact zone. It was also
error, more work needs to be done in order to devise a more detected that chips removed during cutting of single
accurate computation to describe of this critical cutting crystalline silicon consisted of nano-needles, nano-rib-
parameter. bons, and nano-fibers [47]. The shape and size of these

Fig. 7 SEM photos of chips formation in cutting of WC [14]. (a) dmax = 920 nm; (b) dmax = 1164 nm
6 Front. Mech. Eng.

Fig. 8 SEM photos of chip formation in turning of silicon [45]. (a) dmax = 20 nm; (b) dmax = 690 nm

three types of chips depended on the cutting depth and Typically, the depth of subsurface damage on a silicon
geometric parameters of the cutting edge. Electron wafer induced by an ultra-precision grinding is around 1–3
diffraction analysis showed that needle like chips had a mm [55]. The average subsurface damage depth imparted
somewhat amorphized crystal structure, while nano-ribbon by a fine grinding process of silicon wafers is up to 6 mm
and nano-fiber type chips were almost fully transformed [56]. Those damaged layers have to be removed subse-
into an amorphous phase. This study showed the quently by employing heavy CMP, which makes the
possibility of the effective and inexpensive use of ductile production extremely slow and very costly.
mode cutting method to produce mechanically flexible
nano-ribbons and fibers for nano- and micro-mechanical 4.4 Surface finish
and electronic devices. It should be noted that in studying
of the chip phase composition as well as the machined Surface finish is the nature of a surface, which is another
surface of brittle materials, the Raman spectroscopy is key characteristic feature in DMC. Mirror finish is desired
widely used these days [5,48,49] instead of the TEM which for improved functioning of the optical components made
was widely used in earlier studies [50,51] on DMC of by brittle materials.
semiconductor materials. This is due to the fact that Raman Surface characteristics produced by DMC of brittle
spectroscopy makes it possible to diagnose virtually all materials were experimentally studied extensively. It was
existing phases of brittle materials, a labor intensive found surface roughness obtained in DMC of silicon was
procedure for the sample preparation is not required and much better than that generated from the grinding [55].
the investigations can be conducted at ordinary conditions Very smooth surfaces and continuous chips can be
without the need of vacuum chambers. achieved in DMC of silicon using an external high
hydrostatic pressure of 400 MPa with a diamond tool
4.3 Subsurface damage having an edge radius at nanometer scale [21]. A surface
roughness value of below 10 nm was obtained in DMC of
Subsurface integrity is another key characteristic feature silicon wafers as shown in Fig. 9 [57]. Nakasuji et al. [28]
dominating the DMC of brittle materials. In diamond achieved a surface roughness value of less than 20 nm on
cutting of single crystalline silicon, there is a machining- optical materials by diamond turning. The surface rough-
induced subsurface damage exhibiting four features of ness Rmax of 20 nm was achieved at a DoC of 100 nm in
amorphization, poly-crystallization, dislocation, and inter- cutting of silicon using a large negative rake angle [58]. A
nal microcracking [52,53]. Near crack free-surface is surface roughness of Ra = 14.5 nm in ultra-precision
transformed into an amorphous phase above a dislocation turning of glass ZKN7 was obtained using a tool with
layer, which is mainly caused by the high compressive nanometric edge radius [6]. Liu et al. [43] achieved Ra of
stress in the cutting zone [52]. Internal microcracks form 20.3 nm in groove machining of soda-lime glass using a
earlier than surface microcracks. The amorphous layer computerized numerical control turning machine by a
thickness and dislocation density are very much depended diamond tool with a comparatively larger cutting edge
on DoC and tool rake angle because they attribute the high involvement. Schinker [59] machined optical glass
compressive stress [53]. A subsurface damage analysis indicated that the quality of surface finish was decided
method was developed to determine the subsurface by several factors such as microshear pattern, subsurface
damage layer thickness by analyzing the surface damaged residual stress, microripple pattern, thermal induced
region with sinusoidal wave along radial direction [54]. deviation in physical properties of glass and different
 Elijah Kwabena ANTWI et al. A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials 7

Fig. 9 Measured surface roughness in cutting of single crystal silicon wafer [57]

microcrack system. To achieve an optimum level of Further studies indicated that the tool sharpness, i.e.,
surface quality for a given cutting speed in diamond tool cutting edge radius, was a major factor affecting the
turning of glass, DoC must be sufficiently low. quality of surface finish obtained in DMC [4]. Due to the
SEM examination on machined surfaces obtained in similarity in material removal mechanism, similar factors
high speed micro milling of WC showed in Fig. 10(a), are assumed to have a controlling influence on the
proved that DMC can be achieved with a small UCT [60]. achievable surface quality in DMC of silicon, glass,
Cutting with a large UCT would lead to a fractured surface tungsten carbide and other brittle materials. It was well
as shown in Fig. 10(b). SEM and AFM (atomic force established that the machined surface roughness was
microscope) examinations on machined surfaces obtained largely influenced by UCT which is controlled by feed
in cutting of silicon showed in Figs. 11(a) and 11(c), rate and DoC. Therefore, by controlling machining
respectively [4], also proved that DMC can be achieved parameters and selected proper cutting tool geometries
with a small UTC. Cutting with a large UTC would lead to accordingly, DMC can be successfully achieved with
a fractured surface as shown in Figs. 11(b) and 11(d). TEM damage-free surfaces in cutting of brittle materials. This
examination of the nano-machined silicon showed that will largely reduce the overall processing time and
even the surface damaged in DMC was more homo- eliminate the subsequent abrasive-based surface finishing
geneous than that in grinding [33]. processes such as CMP.

Fig. 10 SEM photographs obtained surfaces in cutting of WC [60]. (a) dmax of 644 nm; (b) dmax of 1164 nm
8 Front. Mech. Eng.

Fig. 11 SEM and AFM photos obtained surfaces in turning of silicon [4,57]. (a) dmax of 65 nm; (b) dmax of 348 nm; (c) dmax of 65 nm;
(d) dmax of 348 nm

4.5 Tool wear flank face in DMC of silicon [69,70]. The outcome
indicated that a temperature increase in the cutting zone
One challenge in DMC of brittle materials is the tool wear might soften the diamond along the tool flank face. A large
which not only increases the manufacturing cost but also hydrostatic pressure in cutting of silicon also leads to a
effects chip formation and machined surface integrity [61]. phase transformation from the single crystalline to the
The tool wear becomes compounded when cutting with amorphous phase, in which interatomic bond lengths may
large tool nose radii [44,62], thus reducing the tool wear is not be the same. In some groups of atoms in the amorphous
really significant, so as to achieve the desired surface phase, interatomic bond lengths may be even smaller than
roughness and dimensional tolerance and/or accuracy [63]. in the crystalline silicon. These discrete groups of atoms
Yan et al. [64] explained the diamond cutting behaviour of may be much harder than the initial crystalline silicon and
silicon at a DoC less than 1 µm. Tool wear mainly may act as hard abrasive particles in the amorphous phase.
happened on tool flank face having the common wear Furthermore, cutting distance, chip size, rake angle and
patterns [65–68]. Similarly, the tool cutting edges under- cutting speed had an adverse effect on tool wear compared
went two processes in nanoscale cutting of silicon wafers: with coolant and side rake angle [62]. It was further
Wear on main cutting edge increasing its sharpness but not explained that length of cut was the sole parameter that had
changing its shape so as to enhance chip formation in a very significant effect on tool wear.
DMC, which can be attributed to the increment of
compressive stress in the cutting zone; and micro/nano-
grooves generated at flank face forming some micro- 5 Molecular dynamic simulation
cutting edges [61]. The effect of diamond crystallographic
orientation on DMC of silicon clearly indicated that wear MD simulation has played a significant role in helping to
resistance and tool life were greater for the tool rake face solve a myriad of machining challenges associated with
being on crystallographic orientation {110} than that on brittle materials at the atomic- or nano-scale level, thereby
crystallographic orientation {100} and {111} [57]. Using providing more deep understanding into the various
molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studying the tool machining process that cannot be readily attained through
wear mechanism demonstrated the presence of grooves on either theoretical or experimental studies [71]. Pioneering
 Elijah Kwabena ANTWI et al. A review on ductile mode cutting of brittle materials 9

work in MD simulation was started in the late 1950’s 6 Discussion

[72,73]. MD simulation was reported in the late 1980’s to
model nano-scale cutting in ultra-precision machining [74– All brittle materials would experience a brittle-ductile
77]. It is also worth noting that choosing of an appropriate mode transition when cutting with an increasing DoC from
and accurate potential energy function determines the zero. According to Eq. (1) based on Griffith facture
simulation quality, as well as affecting its computing time. propagation criterion, the critical undeformed chip thick-
The validity of the potential function should be checked for ness dc can be predicted by the material Young’s modulus,
properties like lattice constant, cohesive energy and elastic hardness and fracture toughness, which would be a certain
constants before they can be considered as reasonably value for a given material. The theoretical dc value for
valid. DMC of tungsten carbide was calculated to be 2.114 µm
Figure 12(a) shows a schematic representative model [92]. Grooving and machining tests were conducted to
used in MD nano-metric cutting simulation which is identify the experimental dc value for DMC of tungsten
deemed appropriate for such work, and Fig. 12(b) shows a carbide, soda-lime glass and single crystal silicon wafer. It
MD simulation outcome [40,78]. Here, work material is was 2.485 µm for tungsten carbide obtained by grooving
modelled as deformable and cutting tool is modelled as using a cubic boron nitride tool with the cutting edge radius
either infinitely hard [78,79] or considered deformable of 5.8 µm and speed of 144 m/min [92], 560 nm for soda-
bodies [80]. It is ideal to model both the work material and lime glass obtained by grooving using a single crystalline
cutting tool as deformable bodies to facilitate their diamond tool at cutting diameter of 38 mm with the speed
tribological interaction. The model uses negative tool of 1000 r/min [43], and 40 nm for single crystal silicon
rake angle [30,81] and also should have a finite tool edge wafer obtained by turning using a single crystalline
radius [42,78,82–84] as it is considered suitable for cutting diamond tool with the cutting speed of 1000 r/min and
of brittle materials. MD simulation is becoming a widely feed rate of 5 µm/revolution [45], respectively. However,
used studying method to understand the material deforma- the critical UCT dc value obtained from both theoretical
tion mechanisms rapidly. Special phenomena such as chip prediction and experimental results for DMC of brittle
formation, work material deformation and phase transfor- materials is very small, at micron, sub-micron or even
mation during nanometer scale cutting can be observed at nanometer level, which largely constrains their actual
the nanometer level [85–88]. industry application.
Simulation based on renormalized molecular dynamics Naturally, questions on how to overcome this problem
indicated that DMC of single crystalline silicon with are surfacing up. Noted that the key parameter for DMC is
defect-free can always be achieved in an absolute vacuum the critical UCT dc, as DMC can be achieved on brittle
[89]. MD simulation demonstrated that the amorphous materials when cutting below the critical value. In practical
phase transformation in cutting of silicon is a key application aspect, the dc value is expected to be as large as
mechanism for inelastic deformation, and crack propaga- possible. Thus, are we able to increase the dc value for a
tion can be avoided by stable shearing under a compressive given material? And to what extent?
stress [90]. MD simulations show that the high-pressure The effect of tool sharpness (or called cutting edge
phase transformation (HPPT) of silicon results in a radius) on ductile mode cutting has been studies in some
metallization to form a metastable phase, which persists extend [40,45,57]. The undeformed chip thickness for
only when the cutting tool is able to retain sufficient stress DMC of silicon has not to be larger than its cutting tool
[91]. However, currently MD simulations suffer from the edge radius [57]. The critical UCT for DMC of silicon was
spurious effects of high cutting speeds and the accuracy of also investigated using different diamond tool edge radii
the simulation results has yet to be fully explored [91]. [40,45]. It was found increasing cutting tool edge radius

Fig. 12 Molecular dynamic simulation model of nanoscale DMC [40,78]

10 Front. Mech. Eng.

could derive a larger critical undeformed chip thickness which most likely would change the materials’ mechanical,
[40]. But there is an upper bond of cutting edge radius for optical, physical and chemical properties. Thereafter, it
DMC of silicon wafers [45]. When cutting of silicon using would largely limit their promising industrial applications.
a tool edge radius beyond the limit, DMC would not be But the research on residual stress obtained in DMC of
achievable [45]. Likely, the compressive stress in cutting brittle materials is not sufficient and need to be further
region decreases with increasing of cutting edge radius. As exploration.
such, any way to increase compressive stress in the cutting Although some models and cutting mechanisms have
region? been developed to illustrate the brittle-ductile transition in
A customized stage having an external hydrostatic ductile mode cutting, it is still yet not clearly understood.
pressure attachment was used to cut silicon at the The ductile mode cutting mechanism needs to be broadly
nanometric scale with diamond tools [21]. Very smooth investigated through extensive theoretical, experimental
surfaces and continuous chips, i.e., DMC, were achieved and simulation studies to have a comprehensive under-
with an UCT of 50 nm, which is larger than the critical standing the chip formation and damage-free surface
UCT of 40 nm [45] (both studies of Refs. [21,45] using the generation. Hybrid manufacturing and/or machining
off-the-shelf single crystal diamond tools supposed having processes have evidenced the somehow improvement in
the same range cutting edge radius, other diamond tools DMC of brittle materials. Novel and breakthrough
with lager tool edge radii used in Ref. [45] were unusual technologies on hybrid manufacturing/machining pro-
and particularly polished in the lab, and their edge radii cesses need to be innovated and developed to largely
were measured using an indentation method [93]). As a improve DMC performance and brittle materials’ machi-
large hydrostatic pressure leads to a transformation in chip nability. Also, the research on DMC should be extended to
formation zone from the single crystalline phase to the more advanced and new emerged brittle materials. It will
amorphous phase [69,70]. And the high hydrostatic help to eliminate manufacturing barriers effectively and
pressure results in a plastic deformation of brittle materials bloom the industrial demands significantly.
[22–24]. This also proved that applying an external high
hydrostatic pressure would increase the dc value so as to
improve DMC performance.
7 Summary
Some attempts have also been conducted on hybrid
This paper has attempted to provide a generic overview of
machining to help achieve ductile mode cutting [94–102].
DMC of brittle materials which attracted more and more
The critical DoC for ductile-brittle transition in machining
studies from academics in the past decades. In fact,
of WC and glass using the ultrasonic vibration tool was
substantial studies have been conducted and demonstrated
found being much larger than that with the conventional
that DMC can be successfully accomplished under certain
stationary tool, which was increased to about 3.5 and 7
cutting conditions achieving smooth and damage-free
times, respectively [94,95]. A model was developed for
surface on different brittle materials including silicon,
brittle materials to predict the dc value for ultrasonic
soda-lime and BK7 glass, tungsten carbide, etc. The
vibration cutting and experimental results well verified the
technical bottleneck for industrial applications of brittle
predicted dc value, of which the dc value for DMC of
materials is their extremely poor machinability, particu-
silicon wafers was increased to around 2 times of that
larly for DMC. The ultimate goal of DMC is to improve
obtained without ultrasonic vibration assistance [97]. Laser
brittle materials’ machinability as much as possible, such
assisted machining was studied on single crystal silicon to
that more and more brittle materials could be widely
explore the machining mechanism with different condi-
utilized in the engineering and industries, which would
tions, resulting in a greater DoC for DMC of silicon than
certainly benefit from their excellent mechanical, optical,
that without laser heating [98]. A larger critical DoC was
physical and chemical properties. Therefore, more studies
also achieved in DMC of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite
in the future need to be conducted on DMC of brittle
with thermal assisted compared with that obtained without
materials focusing on machinability improvement, of
thermal assistance [99]. Thermal softening of brittle
which hybrid manufacturing/machining processes should
materials would result in a larger DoC, as HPPT implies
be paid more attention.
that all materials are removed in the ductile mode [98].
Surface modification by hydrogen ion implantation can be Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the financial support from
employed for enhancing for DMC of single crystal silicon the National University of Singapore Start-up Grant and Singapore Ministry
[101,102]. of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 1.
Extensive experimental studies have proved that in
DMC of brittle materials, there are three key apparent
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