Analysis of wood cutting mechanics with different grain orientation

The study of wood cutting mechanics during has been poorly studied if compared to metal cutting because of the easiness of machining operations and the highly variable characteristics of the material that are difficult to model. However with the rising of technological level in the wood machining sector arise the need to improve the efficiency and the productivity of such cutting processes. One of the most critical issue is the strong anisotropy of the material due to the wood grain orientation. The aim of this work is the analysis of the different cutting mechanics that arise for different orientation of the grain respect to the cutting direction. To analyze the cutting mechanics many experimental tests has been carried out, acquiring the cutting force direction and modulus and an high speed video of the process. The analysis of the experimental tests has allowed the identification of four different cutting mechanics for which a brief explanation has been provided in the paper mainly using geometrical reasoning.