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Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering


Manufacture
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Aspects of cooling lubrication reduction in machining advanced materials


E Brinksmeier, A Walter, R Janssen and P Diersen
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture 1999 213: 769
DOI: 10.1243/0954405991517209

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769

Aspects of cooling lubrication reduction in machining


advanced materials

E Brinksmeier, A Walter, R Janssen and P Diersen*


Main Department of Manufacturing Technologies, Foundation Institute for Material Science, Bremen, Germany

Abstract: Coolant lubricants are recognized as undesirable factors in metal cutting, especially in
machining advanced and difficult-to-cut materials. For both economic and ecological reasons, as
well as because of increasing legislation, efforts are being made to reduce the use of coolants. On
account of this, the introduction of dry machining and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL)
techniques in machining processes is increasing. The results of the investigations carried out give an
overview of the possibilities for influencing the machining of advanced materials, e.g. titanium alloys
and extreme low-sulphur steels. The research topics focus on cutting tool performance and wear
mechanisms at high cutting speeds while using different lubricants and cooling supply strategies. The
investigations and verification experiments contribute to increasing process stability and tool life,
improvement of machined surface finish and avoidance of tensile residual stresses.

Keywords: dry machining, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), hardened steels, titanium alloys,
low-sulphur steels

NOTATION Fe iron
FeS iron sulphide
ae back engagement of the cutting tool (mm) h thickness of cut (mm)
ap working engagement of the cutting tool h% chip thickness (mm)
(mm) HB Brinell hardness
Al aluminium HC hard metal
Al2O3 aluminium oxide HRB Rockwell hardness, ball
C carbon HRC Rockwell hardness, cone
CL cooling lubricant HSS high-speed steel
Co cobalt HW coated hard metal
Cr chromium l drilling depth (mm)
Cu copper Mc cutting torque (N/m)
d diameter of hole (mm) Mn manganese
D diameter of drill (mm) MnS manganese sulphide
DF tool diameter Mo molybdenum
DH double stroke MQL minimum quantity cooling lubrication
E energy (J) n spindle speed (min−1)
f feed (mm) N nitrogen
fz feed per tooth (mm) Nb niobium
F force (N) Ni nickel
Fc cutting force (N) P phosphorus
Ff feed force (N) rm tool nose corner radius (mm)
Fp back force (N) Ra arithmetical mean deviation of the profile
(mm)
The MS was recei6ed on 5 No6ember 1998 and was accepted for Rz ten point height of irregularities (mm)
publication on 3 March 1999. S sulphur
*Corresponding author: Main Department of Manufacturing Technolo-
gies, Foundation Institute for Material Science (IWT), Badgasteiner SEM scanning electron microscope
Strasse 3, D 28359 Bremen, Germany. Si silicon
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770 E BRINKSMEIER, A WALTER, R JANSSEN AND P DIERSEN

Sn tin tific investigations as well as industrial applications


t cutting time (min) have shown that the type of coolant and its supply have
T tool life (min) a great influence on cutting processes. Component
Ta tantalum quality and tool wear depend on the cooling/lubricating
Ti titanium conditions. From this, it becomes evident that cooling
TiC titanium carbide lubricants are an important technological parameter in
TiN titanium nitride machining [1].
6c cutting speed (m/min) On the other hand, it has to be pointed out that
6f feed speed (m/min) coolants also represent a significant part of the manu-
6sp chip velocity facturing costs. Figure 1 illustrates the costs of the
V vanadium production of camshafts in the European automotive
VBc wear at the corner of the cutting edge (mm) industry [2]. The conspicuous high share of the costs for
VBmax maximum wear land value (mm) cooling reaches 16.9 per cent of the total manufacturing
W tungsten costs. Considering the costs for tools (7.5 per cent), it
Wc tungsten carbide seems incomprehensible that all innovation and activity
z amount of cutting edges directed towards cost improvement in the last few years
have focused on tools. The costs of the purchase, care
h relief angle (deg) and disposal of coolants are two times higher and have
m included plan angle (deg) to be taken into account when examining economics in
u inclination angle (deg) machining. Furthermore, coolants may have unhealthy
ƒ shear plane angle (deg) effects on workers as well as on the environment. With
regard to legislation, the abandonment of coolants
would be desirable. While technological demands indi-
1 INTRODUCTION cate the need for an adapted coolant supply, such
supporting media should be reduced or avoided from
In machining, great quantities of coolants and lubri- the ecological and economic point of view.
cants are supplied to avoid thermal damage to the At present, many efforts are being undertaken to
component. Nevertheless, cooling lubricants are often develop advanced machining processes using less or no
regarded as supporting media that are necessary but coolants. Interesting alternatives to conventional flood-
not important. In many cases the cooling system is ing coolant supply are the minimum quantity lubrica-
based on the assumption that the greater the amount of tion (MQL) and dry machining technologies, which
lubricant used the better is the support for the cutting make the advantages of a reduction in or complete
process. avoidance of coolants achievable. At any rate, the use
The contact zone between workpiece and tool is of MQL will only be acceptable on condition that the
often flooded without taking into account the require- main tasks of coolants in cutting processes can be
ments of the specific process. In the last decade, scien- successfully replaced [3 – 5]. Figure 2 lists the tasks of

Fig. 1 Manufacturing costs for crankshafts at a German car builder


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ASPECTS OF COOLING LUBRICATION REDUCTION IN MACHINING ADVANCED MATERIALS 771

Fig. 2 Tasks of coolants in machining processes

coolants in cutting processes and demonstrates which


1. Lubrication through spraying. In this system the air
tasks have to be taken over by other solutions when
and oil are mixed in the tank.
reducing the coolant quantities. In dry machining, the
2. Low-pressure spraying system. The lubricant is
cooling of workpiece, tool and machine tool cannot be
sucked into the air through the special construction
ensured by a coolant, and in MQL the small lubricant
of the nozzle (the Venturi nozzle principle).
quantities can only conditionally fulfil this task. Hence,
care must be taken to provide the optimal lubrication 3. Excess pressure spraying system. The cooling lubri-
for reducing the heat generated by the friction between cant is supplied by a pump. The oil and air are
cutting tool and workpiece. In the application of MQL separately supplied through supply pipes. The mix-
for cutting processes, the lubrication can be undertaken ing and atomization of oil and air take place in the
by suitable lubricating media. Another important task nozzle. This is the common MQL technology in the
of cooling lubricants is the carriage of chips out of the industry.
contact zone to prevent contact between hot abrasive The main know-how of this technology is nozzle design
chips and the generated surface. When establishing optimization. For the machining process, good atom-
MQL or dry machining in industry, new solutions need ization is necessary in order to achieve good wetting of
to be developed to accomplish this key task [6, 7]. the work area. However, this involves high risks to the
While a huge amount of lubricant is spilled out on to health of the workers because of exposure to aerosols.
the work area when using conventional cooling lubrica- In Germany, technical guides for the use of hazardous
tion methods, only a fine spray is used in the MQL substances specify that the concentration of aerosols
technology. An optimally adjusted MQL system needs should be less than 5 mg/m3 in air. Because of this
less than half a liquid gill. The spray of oil lubricates requirement, MQL technology should only be used in a
the contact zone and evaporates during the machining machine tool with an air exhaust installation.
process. In contrast to the conventional cooling tech-
nology, the chips and the workpieces are dry when
MQL is used. The results are low chip disposal and low
workpiece cleaning costs. 2 INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT COOLING
Evaporation of the lubricant contributes to the cool- LUBRICATION TECHNOLOGIES
ing of the workpiece. Cooling by convection itself is
rather low. Furthermore, the evaporation enthalpy of 2.1 Minimum quantity lubrication in grinding
water is higher than that of oil. However, owing to the
better lubrication effect, oil is mainly used for MQL in Generally, grinding enables the achievement of high
industrial practice. surface integrity as well as high material removal rates.
Today, MQL systems have been established in many Hence, not only hardened materials can be economi-
industrial sawing and milling processes. For the end- cally machined by grinding. In these first investigations
users, three MQL systems are available on the market. on MQL in grinding, unhardened parts were also used.
All of these systems are based upon the principle of lost As a test material, heat-treated steel 42CrMo4 (com-
lubrication with dry chips and dry workpieces following parable with SAE 4140) was used. The workpieces were
the machining process: austenitized for 40 min at 850 °C, quenched in oil and
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772 E BRINKSMEIER, A WALTER, R JANSSEN AND P DIERSEN

tempered to 29 HRC for 2 h at 610 °C. A vitrified tion by the small oil content within the emulsion is
bonded carborundum wheel, characterized by mean great enough. On the other hand, in MQL with ester
bonding hardness and porosity, was chosen because the oil, at least a sufficient lubrication can be achieved. The
lower density of the structure should minimize the SEM micrographs of grinding chips demonstrate that
loading of the grinding wheel. Moreover, it was ex- the reduction in cooling lubricants results in increasing
pected that a greater porosity would lead to better chip amounts of heat entering the chips (Fig. 5).
removal as well as to an optimized lubricant supply to If the contact zone is flooded, relatively long chips of
the contact zone. differing dimensions and shapes are generated. In MQL
When grinding the tempered steel, significantly lower and towards dry grinding, more and more fragmented
process forces were needed compared with the forces to chips characterized by a higher deformation are pro-
grinding the hardened material, because the deforma- duced. Especially in dry grinding of the soft material,
tion resistance was lower and also because of the many spherical chips as well as molten and solidified
influence of the wheel specification. It must be pointed particles with a dendritic structure are formed. It can be
out that, even at higher specific material removal rates, gathered from this observation that the heat flux in the
no thermal damage to the workpiece was detectable. grinding of unhardened steels using a vitrified bonded
The normal forces for different coolants and coolant wheel mainly occurs via the chips if the cooling supply
supply techniques vary only slightly (Fig. 3). Flooding is reduced. Thermal impacts on the workpiece are
coolant supply and MQL by an ester oil lead to lower thereby avoided. Furthermore, it must be taken into
forces than dry grinding with MQL by an emulsion. account that the tempered structure is less sensitive to
Nevertheless, the differences, especially for mean mate- high-temperature variations compared with the hard-
rial removal rates, seem to be negligible. ened structure [8].
The effect of cooling on machining becomes more
2.2 Machining of low-sulphur steels
evident when looking at the workpiece roughness (Fig.
4). MQL by ester oil and flooding coolant supply The relationship between workpiece material properties
provide the best surface quality. If an emulsion is used and tool wear has to be known to improve the eco-
for MQL instead of an ester oil, the roughness will nomic aspects of the machining of steels. The machin-
become higher than in dry grinding [1]. Obviously, in ability of steels is highly influenced by workpiece
MQL with emulsion neither the cooling nor the lubrica- material properties because of [9]:

Fig. 3 Normal force depending on the depth of cut


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ASPECTS OF COOLING LUBRICATION REDUCTION IN MACHINING ADVANCED MATERIALS 773

Fig. 4 Workpiece roughness depending on the cooling conditions

Until now, reproducible machinability of low-sul-


(a) material structure,
phur or sulphur-free steels has not been possible. The
(b) non-metallic inclusions, aim of the investigations is to develop a method for
(c) chemical composition and improving the cutting results and reliability. Investiga-
(d) mechanical properties. tions into the machinability of low-sulphur materials
There is an interdependence between these parameters, will be carried out for the following machining pro-
e.g. the material structure is influenced by the chemical cesses: cutting off, profile turning, drilling and gear
composition of the steel, so possible interactions have shaping.
to be considered. The influence of different chemical The manufacturing aspects are an optimized tool
components of workpiece materials on tool wear can be geometry with chip-forming edges, the choice of
used for a metallurgical improvement of machinability. qualified cutting material with coatings, adaptation of
the cutting speed and feed and special cooling lubri-
An increase in the sulphur content of steels leads to
cants. The material science aspect is the heat treatment,
inclusions of sulphides in the material structure. The
especially soft annealing [12].
sulphides initiate chip formation and thereby improve
The quality of the machined material was assessed by
chip breaking. Steels with an extremely low sulphur
surface finish, subsurface damage, chip geometry and
content have a higher strength and a higher fatigue
cutting forces. Investigations of tool wear are made by
strength than high-sulphur steels. Owing to the higher light-optical microscope and scanning electron
durability and reliability required for automotive engi- microscope.
neering parts, industrial users are interested in reducing Investigations on heat-treated steel with a sulphur
the sulphur content of the workpiece material. Never- content of 0.001 and 0.007 per cent were carried out on
theless, the latest scientific research shows problems a multi-axis computer numerically controlled (CNC)
when machining low-sulphur steels. A higher sulphur machining centre and a shaping machine. For these
content causes greasing at the lip of the tool during the experiments, coated high-speed steel (HSS) drills and
cutting process. Improved lubrication by sulphides carbides were used. The effect of cooling lubrication on
leads to a decrease in abrasive tool wear [10, 11] (Fig. the cutting forces during the shaping process is shown
6). Considering that this positive effect does not exist in Fig. 7. It illustrates the reduction in forces owing to
for extremely low-sulphur steels, other material treat- the application of MQL by an excess pressure spraying
ments or manufacturing arrangements are necessary to system at 10 ml/h. The largest measured force is the
improve machinability. cutting force. The proportions of the other forces and
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774 E BRINKSMEIER, A WALTER, R JANSSEN AND P DIERSEN

their decrease when MQL is applied are significantly In addition, the effect of cooling supply strategies on
smaller. This decrease in forces was accompanied by an drilling with HSS drills was also investigated. Drilling
improvement in the surface quality and tool life by 20 of low-sulphur steels is a particularly difficult process
per cent. A possible reason for this result is that the because the chips have to be transported out of the
lubrication effect when machining materials with a generated hole. The effect of cooling lubrication on drill
higher sulphur content provided by manganese sul- wear is shown in Fig. 8. It illustrates the possible
phides can be replaced by MQL. number of holes drilled before the maximum width of

Fig. 5 SEM micrographs of grinding chips


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ASPECTS OF COOLING LUBRICATION REDUCTION IN MACHINING ADVANCED MATERIALS 775

Fig. 6 Influence of sulphides on chip building

Fig. 7 Reduction in cutting forces by MQL

Fig. 8 Tool life when drilling low-sulphur steel

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776 E BRINKSMEIER, A WALTER, R JANSSEN AND P DIERSEN

sion between tool and part surface [13, 14]. Therefore


welded chips on the tool surface lead to premature
process disturbances (Fig. 9).
Accordingly, practical milling investigations of tita-
nium alloy TiA16V4 were carried out on a multi-axis
CNC machining centre. A representative series of un-
coated and coated-end mills of carbide metal and high-
speed steel were selected for the experiments.
Experimental research focuses on cutting tool perfor-
mance (e.g. breakage of cutting edges under high-speed
milling conditions and wear mechanisms while using
different lubricants and cooling supply strategies). To
characterize the performances of different tools and
parameters, cutting forces, tool wear, surface quality
and chip formation were analysed. The experiments
were carried out with high-speed steel (HSS) and car-
Fig. 9 Welded chips on the tool flank
bide tools. Compared with HSS tools, the carbide tools
showed a clearly better performance under high-speed
wear land reaches VBmax =0.3 mm. The investigations cutting conditions. Although increased cutting speeds
show that the use of overflow lubrication with a 5 per lead to reduced tool life travel (in mm), higher cutting
cent emulsion reduces the tool wear significantly. It can speeds can be achieved through the use of carbide tools.
be established that dry drilling is possible, but the tool The effect of cooling lubrication on carbide tool wear
life amounts to only 50 per cent compared with wet is shown in Fig. 10. It illustrates the progress of the
drilling. In the case of the switch from dry to overflow width of wear land VBmax in relation to tool life travel.
drilling, the difference between the two sulphur versions Generally, the correct use of coolants during machining
increases. As regards surface quality and the roundness, operations greatly extends tool life. Especially in the
no significant differences resulted, so that component case of milling, the use of MQL is suitable for reducing
quality is secured. tool wear [15, 16]. In this case a special device atomizes
the coolant and supplies it with very low flowrates. It
2.3 Milling of titanium alloys can be established that the use of MQL clearly reduces
tool wear. The investigations have also shown that the
Titanium alloys exhibit high specific strength and heat use of overflow lubrication with a 6 per cent emulsion
resistance (strength – density ratio), but they are difficult reduces the visible tool wear. It is evident that the
to machine. The low thermal conductivity and high reduction in the heat generated by the process also
chemical reactivity of titanium alloys cause increased reduces the occurrence of welded chips on the tool
tool wear, high cutting temperatures and strong adhe- surface.

Fig. 10 Effect of cooling lubrication on tool wear


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ASPECTS OF COOLING LUBRICATION REDUCTION IN MACHINING ADVANCED MATERIALS 777

Fig. 11 Tool life travel for different cooling lubrication strategies

In addition, the effects of different cooling supply tity lubrication is a suitable alternative for economically
strategies for the use of high-speed steel tools were and environmentally compatible production. It com-
investigated. Under these conditions the improvement bines the functionality of cooling lubrication with an
with MQL is clearly better. The effect is nearly the extremely low consumption of lubricant and therefore
same as for the use of overflow lubrication. For the use has the potential to close the gap between overflow
of HSS tools, it can be established that the tendency of lubrication and dry machining. This article gives exam-
the titanium to pressure weld to the tool flank can be ples of successful reduction in the amount of coolant
almost completely avoided by the use of oil mist lubri- used in machining. In conclusion, it can be stated that
cation. These results are applicable for all investigated it is essential to select appropriate machining parame-
MQL lubricants. The slight differences between lubri- ters and suitable tools in order to utilize this potential.
cants with and without additives are presented in Fig. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the entire cutting pro-
11. cess, consisting of workpiece, tool, coolant and machine
Products with high amounts of antiwear additives tool, is necessary.
lead to further increase in tool life. In this case it turned
out that high-additive products lead to better results
compared with emulsions in overflow conditions. The REFERENCES
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3 CONCLUSIONS
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