A Combined Molecular Dynamics and Rigid-Plastic FEM Simulation of Atomic Level Cutting Keiji MANABE, Manabu ISOBE and Kanji UEDA Atomic-level cutting process is simulated by using a combined molecular dynamics (MD) method and rigidplastic finite element method (RPFEM). The algorithm for combining the MD and RPFEM is developed based on the displacement of atoms and rigid-plastic body. MD solutioin of the atomic displacements and the nodal displacements obtained by RPFEM analysis are combined in the vicinity of the tool edge , so that atomic-level cutting process is simulated. The transition process in the beginning of the cutting of a single crystal copper due to the diamond tool advancement is simulated . In this calculation, the atomic behavior in the shear zone near the tool edge and the plastic flow of the chip can be simultaneously analyzed . The proposed MD-RPFEM hybrid simulation is considered to be effective to analyze the atomic-order cutting process .