Study on lubricating characteristic and tool wear with water vapor as coolant and lubricant in green cutting

In recent years, green cutting is becoming increasingly more popular due to concern regarding the safety of the environment and operator health. The efficiency of metal cutting operation depends upon the frictional/thermal conditions at the tool-chip interface. Use of water vapor, gases (carbon dioxide, oxygen), WV&C (mixture of water vapor and carbon dioxide gas) and WV&O (mixture of water vapor and oxygen gas) as coolants and lubricants to improve the frictional/thermal conditions in turning operations are studied here. In this study, the effects of water vapor, gases, mixture of water vapor and gas, oil water emulsion applications and dry cutting on main cutting force, cutting temperature, chip deformation coefficient (count backwards of cutting ratio), rake face wear, and tool flank wear have been examined in turning ANSI 1045 steel material with cement carbide tool P10. Experimental results show that applications of water vapor, gases and mixture of water vapor and gas reduce main cutting force comparing to dry cutting and wet cutting. Water vapor reduces lower cutting temperature and chip deformation coefficient than others lubricating conditions. The tool life is extended much longer in direct on applications of water vapor and mixture of vapor and gas than dry cutting. The diffusion and adhesion is alleviated with application of water vapor because of chemical reaction between water vapor and metal surface and forming boundary lubrication layer of multi-dimension metal oxidation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.