Environmental-friendly turning of A286 superalloy

The lubricated machining is in general performed on the hard to cut materials. It has been reported that over 85% of the cutting fluids used in machining industries are mineral-based that are highly carcinogenic. Knowing that over two-thirds of lubricants disposals return to the environment with no purification process, therefore, adequate strategies are demanded to reduce fuel consumption. Furthermore, less harmful types of lubricants must be identified and used. To that accomplished, the effects of various types of cutting fluids such as mineral-based, vegetable-based and liquid nitrogen and different cooling-lubrication methods including dry, wet, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), and minimum quantity cooling-lubrication (MQCL) will be studied on the surface integrity attributes, including average surface roughness Ra and surface texture, tool wear modes, and chip formation morphology and shapes when turning A286, which is however classified as a hard to cut material. The machinability attributes, in particular, tool wear and the Ra of the work parts were significantly improved under MQCL method as compared to other methods. Experimental characterizations revealed that tool rake face is affected by the built-up edge (BUE) and built-up layer (BUL) formation mechanisms, in which both phenomena are attributed to the presence of adhesion wear. Considering the flank wear as the tool life index, longer tool life was observed under MQCL mode, followed by MQL, wet and dry conditions. Experimental results denoted that tool life was improved over 200% in MQCL condition, as compared to that observed under dry condition.