A Study of surface integrity in cryogenic machining of aerospace alloys

• Grant number: 14/18024-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Manufacturing Processes
• Principal Investigator: Amauri Hassui
• Grantee: Amauri Hassui
• Host Investigator: Ibrahim S. Jawahir
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Kentucky (UK), United States

Abstract

Sustainability is a very current theme in various sectors. This is no different with manufacturing processes. Recently there is a growing search for more sustainable manufacturing processes. This is achieved with new technologies that on one side has generated new processes such as additive manufacturing and on the other side has improved the sustainability of the existing processes. Machining is one of the most used manufacturing processes. Thus, improving the sustainability of this process has a significant impact. Usually machining processes are located in the final step of manufacturing the product, therefore the features imposed on machined surfaces are quite important. There are studies that relate the characteristics of surfaces with components failures. It is known that microcracks, residual tensile stresses generate lower fatigue resistance. Superalloys have poor machinability, especially with short tool lives, need for using low cutting parameters and also need for flood cutting fluid. Moreover, the machined components of these materials are of high responsibility since these are often used in the aerospace industry. Cutting fluid is one that causes the largest environmental impact in machining. Thus, the cryogenic cooling has been studied as a more sustainable alternative in several respects. Studies report that its use increases the tool life, eliminates the use of oil (whole or emulsifying) and improves the surface integrity of the partes. This last feature is important because it increases the life of the product. Moreover, the machining of superalloys with cryogenic cooling is also presented as a factor of improving the machinability since it decreases the temperature of the cutting zone more efficiently. This measure makes it very interesting, since superalloys generally have high strength at high temperatures. Therefore this project aims to improve the machinability and surface integrity of superalloys aerospace parts machined using cryogenic cooling,increasing the sustainability of this process. The proposal also includes the attempt to model aspects of surface integrity using as input the cutting parameters.