Sustainable metal cutting

Metal cutting companies are being compelled to reduce their impact on the environment as more international and government environmental protection legislation is introduced. Ensuring appropriate waste disposal measures are in place will be essential to allow companies to operate. Particular attention must be given to liquid coolant used in metal cutting as this is a significant source of environmental pollution. Dry machining is obviously more ecologically desirable for metal cutting as there are no environmental issues or disposal costs for the coolant. Unfortunately though, there are issues that need to be resolved before manufacturing companies will adopt dry machining, mainly associated with the reduction of tool life. However, from previous research, it has been shown that the introduction of cold air directed at the cutting zone significantly increased tool life removing coolant waste disposal costs. To further improve the up take of air cooling the most sustainable and most efficient method of generating cold air suitable for machining must be sought. Comparing three methods of providing cold air has shown that the vortex tube is the most suitable method for providing cold air to the tool interface.