The Impact of Cooling System on Surface Quality in Milling

Abstract

In the last years there has been an increased demand to lower the impact of industrial activities on environment quality. Cutting fluids, among other products, are an important pollutant but they have often been associated with the need for a higher productivity of machining processes. Cutting fluids are a mean of reducing temperature in the cutting area, friction and tool wear but they also represent 7% to 17% of the production costs. Other problems raised by cutting fluids are: microorganism infestation, which can cause pulmonary and dermatological diseases and poor lubrication or corrosion caused by some of the chemicals. Dry cutting is regarded as the cleanest cooling method, but it has a reduced heat dissipation efficiency and practically there is no lubrication. Other relatively new green solutions concern the use of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and cryogenic machining.