Impact of Cutting Environments on Sustainable Machining of H13 Tool Steel Alloy

The use of electrical energy and coolants/lubricants has been widely reported in mechanical machining. However, increased research and process innovation in high speed machining has brought about optimised manufacturing cycle times. This has promoted dry machining and the use of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). This work understudies the impact of different cutting environments in machining H13 tool steel alloys at transition speed regime with emphasis on sustainable machining of the alloy. To achieve this, end milling tests were performed on AISI H13 steel alloy (192 BHN) on a MIKRON HSM 400 high speed machining centre using milling inserts. After each cutting pass, the milling insert was removed for tool wear measurement on the digital microscope. The electrical power consumed was measured with the Fluke 435 power clamp meter mounted on the three phase cable at the back of the machine. It was discovered that MQL has a promising advantage in terms of tool life with 25 minutes of machining, net power requirement of 10% when compared to dry cutting, and environmental benefits when machining H13 tool steel alloy. This work is fundamentally important in assessing the environmental credentials and resource efficiency regime for green machining of H13 tool steel alloys KeywordsH13 tool steel, green machining, process optimization, tool life, cutting environments, energy consumption ◆