Sustainable machining of alloy 800 using micro-textured PVD coated tool

Abstract This study investigates the performance of circular pocket shaped (CPS) textured cutting inserts under sustainable machining environments. The sustainable machining environments are chosen for these studies are Dry-Texture, MQL-Texture and Nano-Texture. CPS textures were fabricated on the tool face using laser micromachining, and the inserts were coated with AlTiN via physical vapor deposition. These inserts were employed to machine Alloy 800, a Ni-Fe-Cr based superalloy. In the case of the MQL-Texture condition, a biodegradable cutting fluid (commercial sunflower oil) was employed, whereas the Nano-Texture condition involved 0.1 vol% CuO nanoparticles (40 nm) in DI water with SDS as a surfactant. The results showed reductions in cutting forces ranging from 8.75% to 36.06%. The percentage reduction in the apparent coefficient of friction (COF) varied from 9.42% to 42.64% under Nano-Texture compared to Dry-Texture. Surface roughness (Ra) was reduced by 14.52% to 27.16% for MQL-Texture compared to Dry-Texture. Taguchi-DFA technique was also applied to the best machining environment to find the best sustainable machining condition with the highest machining performance. The Taguchi-DFA found the best values of the process parameters as 50 m min −1 for cutting speed, 0.08 mm rev −1 for feed, and 110 μm for distance from the cutting edge in Nano-Texture cutting condition. The percentage improvement in the combined desirable index (CDI) for the optimal parameter combination was found to be 12.94%. The percentage improvements in the desirable index (DI) were 18.09% for surface roughness, 10.49% for the COF, and 9.85% for tool wear. Among the machining process parameters feed is the most significant influence, followed by the distance from the cutting edge and cutting speed.