Experimental Characterization of Turning Process of Titanium Alloy Using Cryogenic Cooling and Nanofluid Minimum Quantity Lubrication

Recently, titanium alloys have been widely used in aerospace, biomedical engineering, and military industries due to their high strength to weight ratio and corrosion resistance. However, it is well known that titanium alloys are difficult-to-cut materials because of a poor machinability characteristic caused by low thermal conductivity, chemical reactivity with all tool materials at high temperature, and high hardness. To improve the machinability of titanium alloys, cryogenic cooling with LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen) and nanofluid MQL (Minimum Quantity Lubrication) technologies have been studied while turning a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. For the analysis of turning process characteristics, the cutting force, the coefficient of friction, and the surface roughness are measured and analyzed according to varying lubrication and cooling conditions. The experimental results show that combined cryogenic cooling and nanofluid MQL significantly reduces the cutting forces, coefficients of friction and surface roughness when compared to wet condition during the turning process of Ti-6Al-4V.