Machining Processes

Cutting Fluids
A cutting fluid is any liquid or gas that is applied directly to the machining operation to improve
cutting performance. Cutting fluids address two main problems:
(1) Heat generation at the shear zone and friction zone
(2) Friction at the toolchip and toolwork interfaces
In addition to removing heat and reducing friction, cutting fluids provide additional benefits,
such as:

Washing away chips (especially in grinding and milling)

Reducing the temperature of the work part for easier handling

Reducing cutting forces and power requirements

Improving dimensional stability of the work-part

Improving surface finish.

Types of cutting fluids:

There are two general categories of cutting fluids, corresponding to the two main problems they
are designed to address:

coolants

lubricants

Coolants:
Coolants are cutting fluids designed to reduce the effects of heat in the machining operation.
They have a limited effect on the amount of heat energy generated in cutting; instead, they carry
away the heat that is generated, thereby reducing the temperature of tool and work-piece. This
helps to prolong the life of the cutting tool.

Coolant

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Machining Processes
Lubricants:
Lubricants are usually oil-based fluids (because oils possess good lubricating qualities)
formulated to reduce friction at the toolchip and toolwork interfaces.

Coolants in Machining
Minimum quantity lubrication:
In minimum quantity cooling lubrication systems, non-water soluble cooling lubricants are
mainly used, but hardly mineral oils. It has to be taken into consideration that because of the very
low quantities of lubricants used, the costs should not prevent the use of more expensive high
tech compositions in the field of basic oils and additives. Within the scope of the investigations,
different sorts of cooling lubricants have been checked with regard to their use in minimum
quantity cooling lubrication systems. The development of wear, the achievable surface quality
and the cooling lubricant's behavior during the machining process are used as criteria for
judgment. Using cooling lubricants which are designed for the use in conventional flood cooling
lubrication systems is not advisable because in this case a strong atomization and evaporation,
which are considered to injure health, can be observed. The more the cutting speed and
connected with it the process temperatures increase, the greater the problems in this matter
become. Therefore, the use of basic oils with a higher viscosity and adaptations in the field of
additives is recommended.

Coolant

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Machining Processes
Air jet assistive machining:
High pressure coolant jet assisted machining is being researched and applied in industry for
difficult to machine materials, such as titanium and nickel based alloys. Their poor machinability
is due to following factors:
o Low conductivity
o Chemical reactivity with tool materials
o Shearing mechanism during tool chip formation
o Strain hardening during machining
These factors lead to very high tool wear forcing the use of very low cutting parameters,
especially a very low cutting speed.
To overcome these limitations, the application of coolant jet at high temperature (upto 350 bar),
properly aimed at interface between tool and chip generates an effect of hydraulic wedge which
significantly eases the chip formation and cutting processes, via these factors:

A significant increase of cutting speed and feed rate. The coolant jet facilitates chip
breaking, decreasing the friction and forces generated on the tool. Additionally, the
coolant effect is improved, resulting in possibility of increasing cutting parameters.

An increase in tool life due to decrease of cutting loads and temperature.

An improvement in surface finishing, via the easiest selection of optimum cutting

conditions and elimination of long chips, a decrease in friction and thermal effects on the
surface.

The final effect i.e. or sum of all above is decrease in cycle times and cost per part.

Application:
Aeronautical part manufacturing is the leading sector in application of this technology, due to
extensive use of related materials and critical quality and productivity process parameters.

Coolant

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Machining Processes
Cryogenic cooling:
The process consists of the application of cryogenic gas (usually nitrogen), to assist the turning
process in hard to machine materials as hardened steel. The application of this cryogenic gas is
claimed to prove certain advantages:

Increasing cutting speed and material removal rates by as much as 200% and reducing
machine downtime for tool changeover.

Enhancing the removal of chip from the cutting area and eliminating oily residues on
machines, parts and chips.

Improving the reliability of cutting with ceramic inserts while maintaining desired
dimensional tolerances

Improving the quality of produced parts by preventing mechanical and chemical

degradation of machined surface.

The application of cryogenic coolant using the modified tool can increase tool life to
more than four times.
Application of cryogenic coolant was found to be more effective at a higher cutting
speed.
Cryogenic cooling is more effective at a higher feed rate rather than at a higher depth of
cut.
While machining at a lower cutting speed and using cryogenic coolant, very little wear
was observed on the tool flank. However, at a high cutting speed the cutting edge
suffered from micro-cracks.
Application of cryogenic cooling gives substantial benefit on tool life, surface finish and
dimensional deviation by reduction in cutting zone temperature and favourable chiptool
interface.
For applying cryogenic coolant provides an effective means for cooling the cutting edge
during machining operation.

Coolant

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Machining Processes

Application:
It is usually applied in turning and grinding.

High pressure coolant:

High pressure water jet cooling system where a high pressure water jet (35 to 280 Mpa) is
directed under the produced chips. Mazurkiewicz compared this method with dry and flood
cooling methods. He pointed out his study that for a given cutting speed and rake angle, this
method reduces the contact length and the co-efficient of friction on the tool rake face, and thus
greatly reduces cutting and feed forces.

Coolant

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Machining Processes
Hot machining:
Dealing with materials having very high hardness and shear strength, Hot Machining can be used
to decrease tool wear, power consumed and increase surface finish. In Hot Machining the
temperature of the work piece is raised to several hundred Celsius above ambient, which causes
reduction in the shear strength of the material.
Hot machining is the process which is used for easy machining and to eliminate the problems of
low cutting speeds, feeds and heavy loads on the machine bearings. This problem arises when
machining process is being done on the new and tough materials. The basic principle behind this
process is the surface of the work piece which is to be machined is to be pre heated to a
temperature below the re-crystallization temperature. By this heating the shear forces gets
reduces and machining process becomes easy.
Advantages:

Some of the advantages of hot machining process are:

1) Easy formation of chip
2) Lessened shocks to the tools
3) Good surface finish of the work piece
On the other hand the main disadvantage of this process is the work pieces micro structure may
get disturbed due to heating.

Coolant

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