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A novel cold air electrostatic minimum quantity lubrication (CAEMQL) technique for the machining of titanium alloys Ti–6Al–4 V

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Abstract

The milling of titanium alloys is usually associated with a high cutting temperature and severe tool wear. Therefore, flood cooling technologies have been conventionally employed to prolong the tool life and improve the quality of the machined surface. However, the negative impact on the environment and waste disposal problems caused by the vast quantity of metalworking fluids used in the process have become significant. In this study, a new machining method called “cold air electrostatic minimum quantity lubrication (CAEMQL)” is proposed for machining titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4 V. The milling performance of CAEMQL was systematically assessed in terms of cutting force, cutting temperature, surface roughness, tool life, tool wear, and chip morphology, using minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), electrostatic minimum quantity lubrication (EMQL), and cold air minimum quantity lubrication (CAMQL) as benchmarks. It was found that CAEMQL resulted in improved critical heat flux and steady-state heat transfer performance compared to MQL, EMQL, and CAMQL, which thus produced a lower milling force, smaller milling temperature, better surface quality, and less tool wear. The degree of chip segmentation was enhanced with less deformation under CAEMQL due to its synergistic cooling and lubrication effect.

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Funding

The work described in this paper was supported by the China National Key R&D Program (Grant No. 52275468).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China

    Fucai Liu, Xizhuan Wu, Yu Xia, Ruochong Zhang, Xiaodong Hu & Xuefeng Xu

  2. Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology, Ministry of Education and Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China

    Fucai Liu, Xizhuan Wu, Yu Xia, Ruochong Zhang, Xiaodong Hu & Xuefeng Xu

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ningbo Polytechnic, 288Lushan Road, Ningbo, 315800, China

    Tao Lv

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  1. Fucai Liu
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Contributions

All the authors have contributed to the creation of this manuscript for its important intellectual content and approved the final manuscript. Xuefeng Xu: methodology, data curation, experimentation, validation, formal analysis, and writing—review, and editing. Fucai Liu: supervision, writing—original draft, and writing—review and providing method. Yu Xia and Tao Lv: supervision and guidance. Ruochong Zhang and Xiaodong Hu: experimentation and analysis of the data.

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Liu, F., Wu, X., Xia, Y. et al. A novel cold air electrostatic minimum quantity lubrication (CAEMQL) technique for the machining of titanium alloys Ti–6Al–4 V. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 126, 3437–3452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11222-6

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