Machining difficult-to-machine materials such as alloys used in aerospace, nuclear and medical industries are usually accompanied with low productivity, poor surface quality and short tool life. Despite the broad use of the term difficult-to-machine or hard-to-cut materials, the area of these types of materials and their properties are not clear yet. On the other hand, using cutting fluids is a common technique for improving machinability and has been acknowledged since early 20th. However, the environmental and health hazards associated with the use of conventional cutting fluids together with developing governmental regulations have resulted in increasing machining costs. The aim of this paper is to review and identify the materials known as difficult-to-machine and their properties. In addition, different cutting fluids are reviewed and major health and environmental concerns about their usage in material cutting industries are defined. Finally, advances in reducing and/or eliminating the use of conventional cutting fluids are reviewed and discussed.

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Environmentally conscious machining of difficult-to-machine materials with regard to cutting fluids

Nickel-based superalloy is widely employed in aircraft engines and the hot end components of various types of gas turbines with its high strength, strong corrosion resistance and excellent thermal fatigue properties and thermal stability. However, nickel-based superalloy is one of the extremely difficult-to-cut materials. During the machining process, the interaction between the tool and the workpiece causes the severe plastic deformation in the local area of workpiece, and the intense friction at the tool–workpiece interface. The resulting cutting heat coupled with the serious work hardening leads to a series of flaws, such as excessive tool wear, frequent tool change, short tool life, low productivity, and large amount of power consumption etc., in which the excessive tool wear has become one of the main bottlenecks that constraints the machinability of nickel-based superalloys and its wide range of applications. In this article, attention is mainly focused on the tool wear characteristics in the machining of nickel-based superalloys, and the state of the art in the fields of failure mechanism, monitoring and prediction, and control of tool wear are reviewed. The survey of existing works has revealed several gaps in the aspects of tool self-organizing process based on the non-equilibrium thermodynamics, tool wear considering the tool nose radius, thermal diffusion layer in coated tools, tool life prediction based on the thermal–mechanical coupling, and industrial application of tool wear online monitoring devices. The review aims at providing an insight into the tool wear characteristics in the machining of nickel-based superalloys and shows the great potential for further investigations and innovation in the field of tool wear.

Tool wear characteristics in machining of nickel-based superalloys

Nickel-based super alloys are gaining more significance, now-a-days, with extensive applications in aerospace, marine, nuclear reactor and chemical industries. Several characteristics including superior mechanical and chemical properties at elevated temperature, high toughness and ductility, high melting point, excellent resistance to corrosion, thermal shocks, thermal fatigue and erosion are primarily responsible for wide domain of application. Nevertheless, machined surface integrity of nickel-based super alloys is a critical aspect which influences functional performance including fatigue life of the component. This review paper presents state-of-the-art on various surface integrity characteristics during machining of nickel-based super alloys. Influence of various cutting parameters, cutting environment, coating, wear and edge geometry of cutting tools on different features of surface integrity has been critically explained. These characteristics encompass surface roughness, defects (surface cavities, metal debris, plucking, smeared material, redeposited material, cracked carbide particles, feed marks, grooves and laps), metallurgical aspects in the form of surface and sub-surface microstructure phase transformation, dynamic recrystallisation and grain refinement and mechanical characteristics such as work hardening and residual stress. Microstructural modification of deformed layer, profile of residual stresses and their influence on fatigue durability have been given significant emphasis. Future research endeavour might focus on development of new grades, advanced processing techniques of the same to ensure their superior stability of microstructure and thermo-mechanical properties along with advanced manufacturing processes like additive manufacturing to achieve highest level of fatigue durability of safety critical components while maintaining acceptable surface integrity and productivity.

State-of-the-art in surface integrity in machining of nickel-based super alloys

Tool life and cutting forces in end milling Inconel 718 under dry and minimum quantity cooling lubrication cutting conditions

https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-03046094/document

F. Schneider

Papers

Cutting forces and wear in dry machining of Inconel 718 with coated carbide tools