KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF PRINTING MATERIALS CUTTING USING CIRCULAR CUTTERS

Abstract

The cutting process using circular cutters is most widespread among different cardboard and paper cutout methods. The circular cutters are commonly used to cut materials in rolls and sheets such as: foils, papers with different density or thick cardboards. The process of cutting depends on many factors such as cut material, cutter material, speed of process and geometric parameters of cutting action. One of the most important factors having impact on the cutting process is the cutter sharpening angle, or edge angle. Minimizing of cutter sharpening angle decreases the cutting force, but the minimal possible edge angle is strongly restricted by the mechanical properties of cutter material. During the cutting, a kinematic transformation of the edge angle occurs. This transformation depends on kinematic and geometrical parameters of the cutting process: cutter angular speed and rotation direction, feed rate, cutter diameter and material thickness. The effective cutting angle (the kinematic one) is reduced comparable to the sharpened edge angle. This causes a significant decreasing of cutting forces. The main goal of this investigation is to analyze the transformation of the circular cutter blade-sharpening angle into the effective cutting angle during a cutting action.