Effect of Chilled Air on Machining Performance in End Milling

Abstract

Flood coolant is customarily used to increase tool life and to improve workpiece surface finish in machining. It is also responsible for some adverse effects on the environment and users' health, and hence the interest in chilled air assisted machining as an alternative to flood coolant. The effect of chilled air on machining performance was carried out using an end-milling operation on ASSAB 718HH mould steel using uncoated tungsten carbide inserts at different depths of cut, feedrates and cutting speeds under three different lubrication modes, i.e. chilled air, conventional coolant, and dry cutting. The relative performance of these modes is evaluated in terms of tool wear, surface finish, cutting force, and quality of the chips. Lower tool wear was observed using chilled air compared to that for the conventional flood coolant at a lower depth of cut, lower feedrate and lower cutting speed. The surface roughness was found to reduce at higher depths of cut, higher feedrates and higher cutting speeds for chilled air as compared to dry cutting and flood coolant. It is also observed that the cutting force experienced with chilled air is comparable and, in many cases, lower than that when using flood coolant. Stress lines on the chip surfaces show that the chips experienced the highest shear stress in dry cutting, followed by cutting with chilled air and lastly, with flood coolant.