Implications of Coolant Type on the Temperature Rise of the Cutting Tool Tip in the Turning Machining Process

Thermal control during machining operations is essential to ensure consistent and optimal performance. This paper studies the effect of heat generation in flood cooling, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), and vortex cooling methods used in turning operations by conducting experiments in conjunction with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. Measurement of tool tip temperature was conducted at spindle speeds of 800 and 1000 rpm with cutting depths of 0.2 and 0.5 mm. It is observed from the results that there is an increase in the tool-tip temperature as a result of increasing spindle speed and depth of cut due to increased heat generation in the interaction region between the tool and workpiece. It has been found that vortex cooling, among the various cooling methods, has better thermal behavior by sustaining low temperatures than the other methods, like flood cooling and MQL cooling. Heat transfer analysis shows that vortex cooling achieves higher Reynolds numbers ([Formula: see text]8000-18,000) and Nusselt numbers ([Formula: see text]50–120), resulting in enhanced convective heat transfer coefficients in the range of 250–450 W/m[Formula: see text]K. Simulation outcomes through CFD modeling techniques are in good agreement with the experiment, with an error of less than 12%, indicating that the developed numerical technique is accurate. This research shows the efficacy of using vortex-induced airflow to increase heat removal from different machining conditions. Overall, the findings provide a consistent evaluation of thermal performance across cooling strategies, focusing on measurable heat transfer characteristics without overestimation of machining outcomes.