Abstract
A progressive damage model for aramid honeycomb cutting was proposed to reveal its cutting damage mechanism. It established the relationship between the mesoscale failure modes and the macroscale cutting damage types of the aramid honeycomb. The proposed model addressed the material assignment problem of impregnated honeycomb by developing a material calculation method that simulates the real manufacturing process of the aramid honeycomb. Cutting experiment of aramid honeycomb specimen was conducted concerning on the cutting forces response and cutting damages, which validated that the proposed method was effective for investigating the cutting process and mechanism for the aramid honeycomb. Predicted cutting mechanism results show that: (a) cutting process of the aramid honeycomb can be divided into three stages with four characteristic states-initial state, cut-in state, cut-out state and final state; (b) cell wall bending in the cutting direction relieves the cutting force, and strong plasticity of the aramid fiber makes it hard to break, which lead to uncut fiber and burr damages; (c) using sharp tip cutting tool to reduce cutting force and bonding both top and bottom of the honeycomb to make it stiffer are beneficial to obtain good cutting quality with less damages.