Investigation of the effect of minimum quantity lubrication and Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube cooling on cutting forces, surface roughness and cutting zone temperature in turning Al 6082 T4 alloy

Abstract

Aluminium alloys are widely utilized, particularly in the automotive and aerospace industries, because of their great corrosion resistance, high strength/density ratio and propensity to increase mechanical qualities during ageing. With this widespread use, there are also various machining problems. Therefore, in this study, the cutting forces, average surface roughness and cutting zone temperature of different cooling conditions in turning Al 6082 T4 alloy were investigated. In the experiments, three different cutting conditions (Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT), minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), and dry) were used in the experiments. As cutting parameters, three cutting speeds and feed rates (500, 625 and 800 m/min and 0.1, 0.125 and 0.15 mm/rev) were chosen. Taguchi-based grey relation analysis was applied to the data obtained after the experiments. As a result, it has been observed that MQL and RHVT methods positively affect the cutting forces, average surface roughness and cutting zone temperature values. As a result of Taguchi-grey relational analysis, optimum results were obtained with RHVT cooling, 800 cutting speed and 0.1 feed rate.