Research on experiments and action mechanism with water vapor as coolant and lubricant in Green cutting

Green cutting has become focus of attention in ecological and environmental protection. Water vapor is cheap, pollution-free and eco-friendly. Therefore water vapor is a good and economical coolant and lubricant. Water vapor generator and vapor feeding system were developed to generate and feed water vapor. Comparative experiments were carried out in witch YT15 (P type in ISO) tool was used in cutting C45 steel under the conditions of compress air, oil water emulsion, water vapor as coolant and lubricant and dry cutting, respectively. The experimental results showed that with water vapor as coolant and lubricant the cutting force is further reduced, the friction coefficient, the chip deformation coefficient and the surface roughness value decreased and the cutting temperature lowered. Kinetic model of penetration capillary in tool-chip interface of cutting fluid revealed that the lubricity effect is much better with water vapor as coolant and lubricant because of its excellent penetration performance and forming of low shearing strength lubrication layer. Therefore, the use of water steam as coolant and lubricant proves to be a green cutting technique. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.