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Abstract
Industries and researchers are trying to reduce the use of coolant lubricant fluids in metal cutting to obtain safety, environmental and
economical benefits. The aim of this research is to determine if the minimal quantity lubrication (MQL) technique in turning gives some
advantages in terms of tool wear reduction. This paper reports the results obtained from turning tests and SEM analysis of tools, at two feed
rates and two cutting lengths, using MQL on the rake and flank of the tool. The results obtained show that when MQL is applied to the tool
rake, tool life is generally no different from dry conditions, but MQL applied to the tool flank can increase tool life.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Lubrication; Minimal quantity lubrication; SEM analysis; Tool life test
1. Introduction
1.1. Lubrication in cutting
During cutting operations one of the most important problems is tool wear, caused by the normal load generated by the
interaction between tool and workpiece and by the relative
motion between tool and chip and workpiece and tool [1].
Tool wear, which results in tool substitution, is one of the most
important economical penalties to take into account during
cutting, so it is very important to improve tool life, minimizing the wear and optimizing all the cutting parameters and
factors: depth of cut, cutting velocity, feed rate, cutting fluids and cutting fluids application. In cutting operations fluids
play an important role. They must mainly guarantee lubrication and cooling, secondly protect workpiece and tool from
corrosion and promote the chip evacuation.
As far as lubrication is concerned, the load applied and the
working conditions, which characterize the cut, suggest that
it is impossible continuously to lubricate the cutting area by
fluid film lubrication. So, to guarantee lubrication, it is necessary to use lubricant with additives that chemically react
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 030 3715584; fax: +39 030 3702448.
E-mail address: aldo.attanasio@ing.unibs.it (A. Attanasio).
0043-1648/$ see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2005.04.024
334
surface, reducing the flank wear, especially when the cutting speed is slow.
Minimal quantity lubrication (MQL): in MQL a very small
lubricant flow (ml/h instead of l/min) is used. In this case,
the lubricant is directly sprayed on the cutting area. It guarantees a good level of lubrication, but the cooling action
is very small and the chip removal mechanism is obtained
by the air flow used to spread the lubricant.
In this work, the attention has been focused on minimal
quantity lubrication and its influence on tool wear.
1.2. Minimal quantity lubrication
Minimal quantity lubrication [2,3] is a recent technique
introduced in machining (in particular, in drilling) to obtain
safe, environmental and economic benefits, reducing the use
of coolant lubricant fluids in metal cutting. As reported by
some authors [4,5], metal-working fluids cost ranges from 7
to 17% of the total machining cost, while the tool cost ranges
from 2 to 4%. Therefore, using MQL technique, a remarkable reduction of machining costs can be obtained reducing
the quantity of lubricant used in machining. In MQL, a very
small lubricant flow (ml/h instead of l/min) is used. First of all
it is necessary to mix air and lubricant to obtain the mixture to
be spread on the cutting surface. Two different mixing methods can be used: mixing inside nozzle and mixing outside
nozzle. Using the mixing inside nozzle equipment, pressurized air and lubricant are mixed into the nozzle by a mixing
device, as shown in Fig. 1a. The lubrication is obtained by
the lubricant, while a minimal cooling action is achieved by
the pressurized air that reaches the cutting surface. Several
advantages derive applying this method. Mist and dangerous
vapours are reduced and the mixture setting is very easy to
control. In the mixing outside nozzle method (Fig. 1b) the
mixture is obtained in a mixing device positioned in a specific tank. Also, in this case lubrication between workpiece
and tools can be achieved.
2. Experimental tests
335
Table 2
Parameters used during the tests
Parameter
Value
300
1
Ester oil with EP additive (COUPEX EP46)
20
2.5
Sandvik Coromant CNMG 12 04 04 PM4025
95
Normalized 100Cr6 steel (200220 HB)
The experimental test consisted of a finish turning operation on 100Cr6 workpieces. The guidelines of the ISO 3685
standard [9] were applied, that fix how to conduct this type
of test in terms of workpiece geometry, tool material, tool
holder type selection, cutting velocity definition, tool failure criterion and procedure to measure the tool wear. The
variables evaluated during the experiments were feed rate,
cutting length for each cut and lubrication. Their chosen
Table 1
Machining variables and their values
Factor
Levels
0.20
50
Dry
MQL of flank
0.26
200
MQL of rake
Fig. 3. Nozzle positioning: (a) rake MQL and (b) flank MQL.
336
Table 3
Tool life results
Lubrication
Feed rate
(mm/rev)
Cutting length
(mm)
Standard deviation
(min)
Mean removed
volume (mm3 )
Standard deviation
(mm3 )
Dry
0.20
50
200
50
200
10.04
10.10
8.17
7.86
0.95
0.83
0.53
0.47
602000
606000
637000
613000
57000
50000
41000
36000
50
200
50
200
9.75
9.48
8.58
9.36
0.44
1.01
1.03
0.63
585000
569000
669000
730000
27000
61000
80000
49000
50
200
50
200
10.36
11.44
9.16
9.68
0.25
0.31
1.01
0.63
621000
686000
714000
755000
15000
19000
78000
49000
0.26
MQL of rake
0.20
0.26
MQL of flank
0.20
0.26
values are shown in Table 1. Table 2 shows all the parameters held constant, including the cutting speed and depth of
cut of 300 m/min and 1 mm, respectively. These parameters
have been set following the guidelines provided by the tool
maker, to guarantee the best working conditions. Moreover, it
was verified that using these parameter values the produced
chips were fragmented, to avoid nozzle deviation from the
right position caused by the impacting chips. As required for
the MQL technique, the lubricant was a high performance
oil. This commercial product is a mixture of extreme pressure (EP) additives, ester, sulphonates, organic salts (Ca and
other) and other compounds. It has been chosen because it
is also very suitable for cutting operations lubricated by pulverisation or jet spraying.
The total number of parameter combinations in Table 1
is 12. For each of these combinations four tests have been
3. Results
3.1. Tool life results
The results reported in Table 3 were obtained as mean values of the results of four tests conducted for each parameters
Fig. 4. Mean removed volume: (a) feed rate 0.2 mm/rev, cutting length 200 mm; (b) feed rate 0.2 mm/rev, cutting length 50 mm; (c) feed rate 0.26 mm/rev,
cutting length 200 mm; (d) feed rate 0.26 mm/rev, cutting length 50 mm.
337
Fig. 5. Influence of feed rate on tool life time: (a) cutting length 200 mm
and (b) cutting length 50 mm.
Fig. 6. SEM analysis (flank MQL): (a) rake surface and (b) flank surface.
338
Table 4
EDS microanalysis from flank MQL conditions
O
1
2
3
Mg
Al
Si
Ca
Ti
Cr
Mn
Fe
1.60
0.37
36.87
96.37
6.61
25.21
2.03
37.92
47.20
2.21
40.56
0.80
0.68
1.07
0.50
On the flank (Fig. 6b) the flank wear zone and the primary
groove can be recognised. This wear geometry characterizes
all tips used during the tests.
Fig. 7 shows the flank wear of a tip used in flank MQL
conditions, identifying sites 1, 2 and 3 at which EDS microanalysis was carried out. Table 4 reports all the elements
found at those sites. In particular, at site 3, elements indicating
compounds from the lubricant are found: sulphur (0.68 wt%)
and calcium (1.07 wt%). Similar results have been obtained
for all the tips used with flank MQL. By contrast, EDS microanalysis of tips used in rake MQL conditions does not show
any presence of these chemical compounds on the worn surfaces. This means that, when MQL is applied on the rake
surface, lubricant does not reach the cutting area.
4. Conclusions
MQL is a technique that could reduce many cutting problems coming from high consumptions of lubricant, like high
machining costs or environmental and worker health problems. Therefore, it is important to know all advantages and
limits of this technique. The present work shows how MQL
can be advantageous when cutting normalized 100Cr6 steel.
The results from experimental tests and EDS microanalysis
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