Key Engineering Materials Submitted: 2016-03-24

ISSN: 1662-9795, Vol. 705, pp 233-239 Accepted: 2016-04-11

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.705.233 Online: 2016-08-15
© 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland

Effect of gas based coolant lubricants on machinability of titanium alloy

Ti6Al4V
Sandip Patila *, Pravin Pawarb, Swapnil Kekadec, Sachin Patil,
Kiran Gujar, Dr. RKP Singh
Kalyani Centre for Technology and Innovation; Bharat Forge Ltd. Pune, 411036, India
a
sandip.patil@bharatforge.com, b pravin.pawar@bharatforge.com,
c
swapnil.kekade@bharatforge.com

Keywords: Ti6Al4V, CO2 Gas, Liquid Nitrogen, FE Model, Surface finish, Chip Microstructure.

Abstract: Machining of titanium alloys generates enormous amount of heat at the chip-tool interface
leading to poor machinability. Use of coolants in the form of gas based lubricants is another approach
for controlling the temperature at the cutting zone. The current research investigates the effect of
gaseous cooling using CO2 and cryogenic cooling using LN2 at the tool rake face during machining of
Ti6Al4V. The effect of both the cutting environments was analyzed at low and high level of cutting
conditions through FE Model highlighting on thermal softening and through the experimental output
responses emphasizing on cutting forces, surface finish and chip microstructure, etc.

Introduction
The properties of titanium alloys such as light weight and high strength which makes them de-
sirable engineering materials also make them difficult to process component [1]. In particular, low
thermal conductivity, high strength, high hardness, high chemical reactivity, etc. results into more
friction and cutting heat which results into poor machinability. Considering the above properties,
managing the heat generation and extraction during cutting is essential to achieve the better ma-
chining properties [2-5]. This high temperature in cutting zone has been traditionally tried to control
using cutting fluids which acts as a coolant as well as lubricant [1]. However, conventional cutting
fluids can cause environmental and health related problems. Therefore, in theory it is better option to
eliminate the use of cutting fluids during machining and perform dry cutting. However, some difficult
to machine materials requires additional cooling media to remove the enormous amount of cutting
heat by convection [2]. Uses of some gases as a cooling media can be another approach for green
machining [2-3]. These gases are mostly atmosphere components, such as Nitrogen (N2), oxygen
(O2), Carbon-dioxide (CO2), etc. During metal cutting, the compressed or cooled or liquefied gas is
injected into the cutting zone as the jet form to cool and lubricate the chip-tool interface [2-3]. The
cooling action in gas cooled machining is mainly through convection. The heat transferred by the gas
jet can be controlled by controlling the jet velocity [3-4]. Gases also provide the inert atmosphere and
lubrication at the cutting interface [4]. A considerable amount of research has been carried out on
using the gas based lubricant during machining of titanium alloy. M.J. Bermingham [1] et al. per-
formed the comparative analysis of cryogenic and high pressure coolant on tool life and chip mor-
phology during machining of Ti6Al4V. Pravin Pawar [2] et al. found that during cryogenic ma-
chining, LN2 supplied with high pressure to the cutting zone receives effective cooling as well as chip
breaking during machining of beta titanium alloy. Yue Zhang [4] et al. found that nitrogen gas and
water vapor provided good surface finish during machining of 1Cr18Ni9Ti. Shoujin Sun [6] et al.
studied the effect of cryogenic compressed air on the evolution of cutting forces and tool wear during
machining of Ti6Al4V. A Bordin [7] et al. analyzed the tool wear in cryogenic machining of additive
manufactured Ti-64 alloy. They concluded that use of LN2 in cryogenic machining resulted in re-
duction of adhesive wear at the cutting tool. A.E.I.Elshwain [8] et al. concluded that gas based coolant
lubricants are one of the most suitable coolants for machining to get improved tool life and surface
finish. Some researchers have also tried on FE modelling of the cryogenic machining process.

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234 Key Engineering Materials VI

A. Davoudinejad [9] et al. made a finite element Simulation and validation of chip formation and
cutting forces in dry and cryogenic cutting of Ti–6Al–4V. Y. Sun [10] et al. developed a FE model to
simulate the cutting forces from cryogenic machining of Ti-5553 alloy based on the modified John-
son-Cook flow stress model, and a good agreement is achieved between the experimental and pre-
dicted results. The current research investigates the machinability of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V under
gaseous CO2 and Cryogenic LN2 as a coolant. The research was focused on cutting forces, surface
finish, thermal softening, chip microstructure, etc. A FE model was prepared on CO2 and cryogenic
LN2 machining showing the influence of cutting conditions on cutting temperature and subsequent
thermal softening at chip formation mechanism.

Experimental Details
Titanium Ti6Al4V raw material AMS 4928 was procured in the form of round bar (Ø80 mm) in
annealed condition. All the turning experiments were carried out on a precision lathe with gaseous
and cryogenic machining set up using coated tungsten carbide inserts. The cryogenic system consists
of 200L Dura cylinder and thermally insulated copper tubing with a constant sized nozzle of Ø2 mm
at the exit concentrating the flow of liquid nitrogen at the rake face of the cutting tool. The pressure
regulator and flow meter were also used for regulating flow of LN2. During machining trials, the
copper tube was manually located at closer distance to chip–tool interface and LN2 was supplied di-
rectly to the cutting zone with pressure of about 0.75MPa. For Gaseous coolant delivery, standard
CO2 gas cylinder with pressure and flow regulator was used. PU Pipe with OD up to 12mm and ID
10mm, Length up to 4 M was regulated to the chip tool interface. Gas temperature was maintained to
17-20 Deg. C. Taguchi’s L8 orthogonal array consisting of 8 sets of data was selected. Both dry and
cryogenic machining experiments were performed with cutting speed of 40 m/min and 80 m/min;
feed rate of 0.1 mm and 0.32 mm and depth of cut of 0.4 mm and 1.0 mm.

Fig.1 Experimental set up for CO2 and LN2 Machining

Cutting forces were measured and recorded by using a three component piezo-electric dyna-
mometer (Kistler Corporation Model 9257A) with a computer based data acquisition system (Dy-
noware). Surface finish of the machined workpiece was measured using Mahr Pocket Surf. The chips
were collected after every trial with proper identification for further analysis. Inserts used for the
experiment were CNMG 120408MS grade KCU10 Kennametal make with PVD TiAlN coating of
deformation resistant unalloyed carbide substrate. Tool holder used was PCLNR2525M12. Chip
microstructure and analysis was carried out using Karl Zeiss optical microscope, and Image analyzing
software.

FE Model
A 2 FE model was prepared using DEFORM where the cutting tool was assumed to be rigid and the
workpiece Ti6Al4V was assumed to be plastic [9-11]. The workpiece was meshed with approxi-
mately 8000 isoparametric quadrilateral elements, while the tool insert was meshed with about 3000
elements. Fig.2 shows the details the thermal boundary conditions applied to the model [9-10].
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 705 235

Fig.2 FE Model Description for CO2 and LN2 Machining

The heat exchange coefficient with the environment was set to 20W/(m2K), which is the default
value to simulate the free air convection and is applied to the tool and workpiece contact regions as
shown in Fig.2 [10]. A local heat exchange window was placed at the rake face of insert where the
local temperature was set at -193 ºC for LN2 and the convection coefficient of the local heat exchange
hcryo was set to 20 kW/(m2K) [9-11]. For CO2 the local temperature was set to 20ºC and convection
coefficient was set to 35 W/m2k. A cutting speed of 80m/min and a feed rate of 0.32 mm were sim-
ulated for both the cutting environments. A J-C material model was incorporated for titanium alloy
Ti6Al4V. As shown in Fig.3a and Fig.3b, the simulation results clearly showed the effect of very high
cutting temperature at the cutting zone during CO2 machining which resulted into more amount of
thermal softening and which further resulted into increased chip segmentations and tool wear.

Fig.3a Chip Segment Pattern – CO2 Machining Fig.3b Chip Segment Pattern – LN2 Machining
However, in LN2 machining the cryogenic temperature reduced the excessive cutting temperature and
subsequent thermal softening and tool wear [9]. This reduction in cutting temperature and thermal
softening can be clearly seen with 6 nos. of chip segments in the chip produced during LN2 machining
as compared to 8 nos. of chip segments during CO2 machining. The phenomenon of lower chip
segmentation frequency [10] in case cryogenic machining was further accompanied with reduction in
the radius of curvature of the chip as compared to that of during CO2 assisted machining. This re-
duction in radius of curvature of chip promotes increased chip breaking during cryogenic machining.
The average pitch of segment for CO2 was found to be 230 µm. However, for LN2 machining the
same was found to be approx. 300 µm. This increase in the pitch of the segments of chip produced
during cryogenic machining concluded that higher amount of normal stresses were acting at the shear
plane resulting to reduction in radius of curvature of chip and hence more chip breaking [11].

Experimental Results

Surface Finish:
Surface finish of the machined workpiece is one of the most critical response parameter in ma-
chining process. Any adverse change in the machining condition can directly affect the machined
surface through increase in surface roughness values [11]. As explained in FE model results, that at
higher level of cutting parameters used in EXP1 to EXP4 where the amount of cutting heat is enor-
mous, the use of liquid nitrogen as coolant resulted in formation of a very thin layer between chip and
cutting tool, thereby reducing cutting temperature and friction between chip and tool hence produced
236 Key Engineering Materials VI

lower surface roughness [3, 5, 8], as shown in Fig.4. However, the use of CO2 as a gas at higher level
of cutting parameters was not able to penetrate the vapor barrier and hence less amount of heat was
removed which further resulted into higher surface roughness. However, at lower cutting conditions
used in EXP5 to EXP8, the phenomenon of wedge, lubricating action, and extent of convective
cooling by CO2 jet was found to be more dominant over the cooling effect of LN2. An accumulation
LN2 at lower cutting temperature zone resulted into work hardening effect which further increased the
friction at the chip tool interface and produced higher surface roughness [2].

Fig.4 Effect CO2 and LN2 on surface finish

Cutting Forces:
As shown in Fig.5 the cutting forces followed the similar trend as of the surface roughness.

Fig.5 Effect CO2 and LN2 on surface finish

At higher level of cutting parameters the cooling effect of cryogenic coolant was more dominant
over the friction and thermal softening phenomenon. This reduced the effect of high chemical reac-
tivity of titanium alloy leading to less adhesion of work material to the tool face [1-2]. Thus, at higher
level of cutting conditions, use of LN2 as a coolant produced a lubricated cushioning effect at the
chip-tool interface resulting in less cutting forces [6]. At lower cutting conditions, the wedge effect of
CO2 jet along with lubricating cushioning effect was found to be more effective compared to LN2
which promoted work hardening effect as because of excess accumulation of LN2 at the chip tool
interface. Fig. 6a-b shows main effect plots for mean of cutting forces for both CO2 and LN2 assisted
machining of Ti6Al4.
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 705 237

Main Effects Plot for Means Main Effects Plot for Means
Data Means Data Means

Cutting Speed m/min feed rate mm/rev Cutting Speed m/min feed rate mm/rev
700
700
600
600
500
500 400

Mean of Means
Mean of Means

400 300

40 80 0.1 0.3 40 80 0.1 0.3

depth of cut mm depth of cut mm
700 700
600
600
500
500 400

400 300

0.4 1.0 0.4 1.0

Fig.6a Main Effect plot for CO2 Machining Fig. 6b Main Effect plot for LN2 Machining
From main effect plots it was clearly seen that use of LN2 at higher cutting paramerts was much more
effective than CO2. However, at lower paramteric conditions use of CO2 will have advantage over
cryogenic machining.
Chip Microstructure:
As shown in Fig.7a-b and Fig.8a-b different chip microstructure and morphology was observed for
different cooling media.

Fig. 7a Chip Microstructure – EXP 3 CO2 Fig. 7b Chip Microstructure – EXP 3 LN2

Fig. 8a Chip Microstructure – EXP 7 CO2 Fig. 8b Chip Microstructure – EXP 7 LN2

Greater amount of friction at the chip tool interface during higher level of cutting parameters
dominated the convective cooling effect provided the gaseous CO2. This friction and excessive of
amount cutting heat further caused the twin shear band formation at the chip segment as shown in
Fig.7a, which delayed the chip breaking and may cause premature tool wear [2]. However, use of LN2
at the chip tool interface at higher level of cutting parameters removed the excess heat generated at the
cutting zone through cryogenic cooling effect [7]. This cryogenic effect and thermal shock further
promoted the brittle chip formation and subsequent chip breaking, as shown in Fig. 7b. A triangular
chip segment formation during cryogenic machining at higher level of cutting conditions at EXP 3
shows that crack formation phenomenon was more dominant over the thermal softening phenomenon
which was observed for CO2 with trapezoidal segment formation as showed in Fig.7a-b. Thus, the
results of FE model which was showing increased pitch of segment for cryogenic machining as
238 Key Engineering Materials VI

compared to CO2 machining can be validated with this crack formation and thermal softening phe-
nomenon. As shown in 8a, at lower cutting conditions, the gaseous CO2 was able to penetrate the
vapor barrier with higher normal stresses acting at the shear plane which created more amounts of
crack formations at the chip segments resulting in chip breaking [10]. Use of LN2 at lower cutting
conditions caused additional work hardening effect at the chip tool interface because of accumulation
of LN2. This work hardening can be visualized as shown in Fig. 8b where more amount deformed
grains were visible near the shear band. These deformed grains produces abrading forces on the cut-
ting tool leading to higher amount of cutting forces [10].

Conclusions
The current investigation showed that gaseous based CO2 can be useful as a coolant at lower
cutting conditions where cutting speed is below 60m/min, feedrate 0.1 mm/rev and depth of cut 0.4
mm. At these parameters CO2 gas can control the cutting heat by convective cooling and lubrication
which further resulting to less cutting forces and less surface roughness. Cryogenic coolant LN2 was
found to be ideal for extreme cutting conditions where the cryogenic effect reduces the excess cutting
heat from the chip tool interface resulting in good machining performance. At higher cutting condi-
tions where cutting speed is 80m/min, feedrate 0.32 mm/rev and depth of cut 1 mm, the use of CO2
gas was found less effective because of excess cutting temperature and friction at the chip too inter-
face. However, use of LN2 at lower cutting conditions was found to be inadequate because of addi-
tional work hardening effect. The results of FE model displaying higher cutting temperature, thermal
softening, and chip segmentation frequency are validated with shear band formations, grain orienta-
tions, etc. in chip microstructure. Chip microstructure revealed the dominance of thermal softening
during CO2 machining at higher cutting conditions. However, work hardening behavior was found to
be dominant for LN2 at lower cutting conditions.

Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the extended support provided to this work by KCTI (Kalyani
Centre for Technology and Innovation) and Production Dept. COEP (College of Engineering, Pune).
The authors also acknowledge the support provided by Bharat Forge Ltd, Pune and DSIR, Govt.of
India. The authors would also like to express special thanks and gratitude to review committee and top
management of Bharat Forge Ltd for granting the permission to publish/present the research work.

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