On temperatures and tool wear in machining hypereutectic Al-Si alloys with vortex-tube cooling

This study investigates dry machining of hypereutectic silicon-aluminum alloys assisted with vortex-tube (VT) cooling. The objective is to reduce cutting temperatures and tool wear by enhanced heat dissipation through the chilled air generated by a VT. A machining experiment, cutting mechanics analysis, and temperature simulations are employed to (1) model the heat transfer of a cutting tool system with VT cooling applied, (2) explore effects of cooling setting and machining parameters on the cooling efficiency, and (3) evaluate VT cooling effects on tool wear. A390 alloy is machined by tungsten carbides with cutting forces and geometry measured for heat source characterizations as the input of temperature modeling and simulations. VT cooling is approximated as an impinging air jet to estimate the heat convection coefficient that is incorporated into the heat transfer models. The major findings include: (1) VT cooling may reduce tool wear in A390 machining depending upon machining conditions, and the outlet temperature is more critical than the flow rate, (2) cooling effects on temperature reductions, up to 20 degrees C, decrease with the increase of the cutting speed and feed, and (3) tool temperature decreasing by VT cooling shows no direct correlations with tool wear reductions. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.