Vortex Tube Impact on Cooling Milling Machining

Abstract

In this paper, the authors will present the use of a vortex tube in cooling milling operations. The focuses will be regarding the surface finish and temperature of the tool during the cutting operation. Three cooling setups, cutting without coolant, cooling with a water base traditional coolant, and cooling with vortex tube will be compared. A Flir E320 UV camera has been used to capture the heat map around the tool during the cutting process. The surface roughness has been measured and analysed for all three samples using Taylor/Hobson Precision Surtronc 3+ apparatus. The findings of this study have shown comparative efficient cooling using the vortex tubes. The vortex tube cooling is also cleaner and can be directed in such a way to collect the chips as they develop with the least mess or no mess. Vortex tubes have no moving parts, and it is very much maintenance free device. Compressed air is needed to feed the vortex tube, which is available usually in any machine shop.