The effect of lubrication type on tool temperature and wear in turning of AISI 304 steel

One way of reducing the cutting zone temperature is the use of an appropriate coolant. Common coolants, in addition to the adverse health effects on operator, cause environmental pollution as well. Because of this, interest in dry machining or green cooling methods in recent years has been greatly increased. Cryogenic cooling is one of the green cooling methods where liquid nitrogen is usually used as coolant. In the present paper, the effect of cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen on the cutting tool temperature and wear in turning process of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel has been investigated. Among different methods of cryogenic cooling, the spraying technique due to its direct effect on the cutting zone has been selected. Turning with dry, wet (conventional) and cryogenic cooling methods are done. The obtained results indicated that the cryogenic cooling decreased the tool temperature compared to the dry and wet machining by 83% and 67%, respectively and reduced the flank wear of the tool by 75% and 53%, respectively. Analysis of variance showed that cutting speed relative to feed rate has a much greater impact on the tool temperature and wear. Increase of cutting speed in all cooling cases increased the tool temperature and wear.