Optimization of process parameters using a Response Surface Method for minimizing power consumption in the milling of carbon steel

• Machining accounts for a significant share of environmental impact of production.
• A detailed study of the power consumption during the machining is provided.
• Process parameters optimization could reduce the environmental impact of machining.
• Response Surface Method is an efficient approach to optimize process parameters.

Due to the urgent need for global reductions of environmental impacts, many studies have been carried out in different fields. One of the most important sectors is manufacturing, particularly due to the high power consumption of the production machines of manufacturing plants. This paper focuses on the efficiency of the machining centres and provides an experimental approach to evaluate and optimize the process parameters in order to minimize the power consumption in a milling process performed on a modern CNC machine. The parameters evaluated are the cutting speed, the axial and radial depth of cut, and the feed rate. A lubrication strategy has been chosen based on previous studies: all the tests have been carried out using dry lubrication in order to eliminate the environmental impact due to lubricant without substantially affecting the energy consumption. The process has been analyzed using a Response Surface Method in order to obtain a model fit for the fine tuning of the process parameters.