The cutting of metals has long been described as occurring by laminar plastic flow. Here we show that for metals with large strain-hardening capacity, laminar flow mode is unstable and cutting instead occurs by plastic buckling of a thin surface layer. High speed in situ imaging confirms that the buckling results in a small bump on the surface which then evolves into a fold of large amplitude by rotation and stretching. The repeated occurrence of buckling and folding manifests itself at the mesoscopic scale as a new flow mode with significant vortex-like components-sinuous flow. The buckling model is validated by phenomenological observations of flow at the continuum level and microstructural characteristics of grain deformation and measurements of the folding. In addition to predicting the conditions for surface buckling, the model suggests various geometric flow control strategies that can be effectively implemented to promote laminar flow, and suppress sinuous flow in cutting, with implications for industrial manufacturing processes. The observations impinge on the foundations of metal cutting by pointing to the key role of stability of laminar flow in determining the mechanism of material removal, and the need to re-examine long-held notions of large strain deformation at surfaces.
Keywords: cutting; folding; instability; metals; plasticity; sinuous flow.