ANALYSIS OF CUTTING CHARACTERISTIC OF POLYCARBONATE SHEET SUBJECTED TO WEDGE INDENTATION BY KNIFE EDGE AND GROOVED PLATE

Abstract

Asymmetric plunge cutting by using a grooved knife edge plate was proposed for advanced die cutting of a polycarbonate (PC) sheet. By varying the tip angle α_U and the tip thickness w _U of knife edge in the counter plate, and combining a standard steel cutting rule of 42° center bevel blade, a cutting load response of PC sheet was experimentally investigated, and the deformation was also observed by a CCD camera. Furthermore, an FEM simulation was carried out by varying the lower tip thickness for revealing the effect of interference of lower grooved counter plate. Through this work, the following were found: 1) there were two deformation modes of sheared profile; 2) the lower tip thickness w _U was a primary factor, compared to the lower tip angle of α_U; 3) the equivalent wedge angle effect was revealed with respect to the upper/lower angles α and α_U, while the PC sheet was bent up by the lower knife indentation.

Keywords:

• asymmetric plunge cut
• bending
• FEM
• resin
• sheared profile
• shearing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Ms. Nopparat Lukkanasirikul, who came from the Pathumwan Institute of Technology (Thailand) to Nagaoka University of Technology (Japan), has been supported by a scholarship for short-term study in Japan, Student Exchange Support Program of Japan Student Services Organization, for one year from 2009 October to 2010 September. This work was supported by the JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Creative and pioneering research (C) of Grant Number 22560106.