Design, fabrication and dry cutting performance of pulsating heat pipe self-cooling tools

Three kinds of pulsating heat pipe self-cooling tools with four, six and eight turns are designed and fabricated respectively. The machining performance of the prepared self-cooling tools and conventional tool in dry turning of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is assessed in terms of cutting temperature, cutting force, tool wear and tool life. Compared to the conventional tool, the self-cooling tools can reduce cutting temperature by 5-15% and improve tool life by 5-25%. A simulation based on 3-D model is developed. It is proved that the self-cooling tools can reduce simulated maximum temperature by 7-15% and can shorten the period in which the temperature reaches to the steady state effectively. The main purpose of this work is to seek a new way of eradicating the ill effects associated with cutting fluids by shifting towards sustainable machining techniques. To be achieved on industrial uptake, the quality of machined material as well as machining efficiency of the self-cooling tools in cutting of more kinds of workpieces will be investigated in future study.