Quantifying the water inventory of machining processes

Owing to the limited availability of freshwater, manufacturing water usage will attract more and more attention. Characterizing water usage represents a key first step to reduce manufacturing water consumption. In this paper a general approach for developing life cycle water inventory of machining processes is presented with focus on direct water usage and indirect water usage due to energy consumption. The approach is demonstrated using three representative processes i.e. turning, milling, and drilling. It is found that direct water usage (due to flood application of metalworking fluids) is comparable in size with indirect water usage (due to electricity consumption). (C) 2012 CIRP.