Analysis of Lubrication Strategies for Sustainable Machining during Turning of Titanium Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The current drive for achieving the implementation of sustainability concepts in manufacturing calls for sustainable machining practices to be adopted. A key area of research is the search for environmentally benign cooling strategies. Vegetable oils have often been proposed as sustainable alternatives to the conventional synthetic emulsion coolants. Techniques like dry and cryogenic machining, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and minimum quantity cooled lubrication (MQCL) have also been proposed. The current study investigates the effect of six different strategies on the flank tool wear, surface roughness and energy consumption during turning of titanium Ti-6Al-4V using uncoated carbide tool at certain speed and feed. The use of rapeseed vegetable oil in MQL and MQCL configuration turns out to be an overall sustainable alternative. Thus confirming the promise predicted in the use of vegetable oil as a lubricant for machining. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V.