Experimental Investigations on Cryogenic Cooling in Drilling of Aluminium Alloy

The usage of a conventional cutting fluid in the metal cutting operations gives harmful effect for environment and to the operator’s health. In this study, experimental investigations were carried out in a drilling operation on aluminium alloy material using a liquid nitrogen (LN2) coolant. The variables in the experiment were, cutting speed and feed, the drilling depth was maintained constant. For each feed rate (0.02, 0.05 & 0.08 mm/rev) three holes were drilled for cutting speeds 110, 130 & 150 m/min. The cutting temperature and thrust force were recorded. The cutting temperature and thrust force were reduced, when cutting speed was increased. The hole quality parameters like cylindricity, circularity and perpendicularity were analyzed using CMM.