Abstract The increasing attention to the environmental and health impacts of industry act ivities by governmental regulation and

by the growing awareness in society is forcing manufacturers to reduce the use of lubri cants. In the machining of aeronautical materials, classified as difficult-to-machine m aterials, the consumption of cooling lubricant during the machining operations is very important. The associated costs of coola nt acquisition, use, disposal and washing the machined components are significant, up to four times the cost of consumable too ling used in the cutting operations. To reduce the costs of production and to make the processes environmentally safe, the goal of the aeronautical manufacturers is to move toward dry cutting by eliminating or minimising cutting fluids. This goal can be achieved by a clear understanding of the cutting fluid function in machining operations, in particular in high speed cutting, and by the development and the use of new materials for tools and coatings. High speed cutting is another important aspect of advanc ed manufacturing technology introduced to achieve high productivity and to save machining cost. The combination of high speed cutt ing and dry cutting for difficult-to-cut aerospace materials is the growing challenge to deal with the economic, environmental and health aspects of machining. In this paper, attention is focussed on Inconel 718 and recent work and advances concerning machining of this material are presented. In addition, some solutions to reduce the use of coolants are explore d, and different coating techniques to enable a move towards dry machining are examined. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Inconel 718; High speed cutting; Dry cutting; Cemented tools; Ceramic tools; Coatings; Minimum lubrication application; Surface integrity 1. Introduction The development of governmental pollution-preventing initiatives and increasing consumer focus on environmentally conscious products has placed increased pressure on industries to minimise their waste streams. In this way, the ISO 14000 international environmental management system standards have been developed to help industries to manage better the impact of their activities on the environment. Particularly concerned is the metal-working sector which includes automotive and aerospace industries. Attention is being directed to the Corresponding author. E-mail address: dudzinski@lpmm.univmetz.fr (D. Dudzinski). 0890-6955/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0890-6955(03)00159-7 role of cutting fluids in machining, machine tool energy efficiency and the impact of process wastes on the environment. The ADEME, French Agency for Environment and Energy Management, supports a project with the goal of improving the machining processes of difficult-to-cut materials for the aerospace industry, in order to move towards dry cutting operations that are more friendly for environment and health, and in the same way, to reduce energy consumption. The advantages of dry machining are: non-pollution of atmosphere or of water which reduces the danger to health, in particular, skin and respiratory damage,

no residue of lubricant on machined components 440 D. Dudzinski et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 4 4 (2004) 439 456 which reduces or eliminates cleaning costs and associated energy consumption, no residue of lubricant on evacuated chips which reduces disposal costs and the associated energy consumption. At high cutting speeds, it is well known that the lubrication in the cutting zone is not evident and not really effective. That is why high speed machining and dry machining are often associated. High speed machining leads to lower cutting forces, higher removal rates and therefore to lower energy consumption. The project is concerned with these two aspects of machining to realise the ecological importance and high performance machining of hard-to-cut aerospace materials. In the first step, the dry machining of the Inconel 718 alloy used by Snecma-Moteurs will be studied. Before introducing dry machining, it is important to summarise the functions of cutting fluids and to search how the effects of cutting fluids may be substituted. Generally, the use of cutting fluid leads to an increase of tool life by the reduction of cutting forces (lubrication effect) and temperatures in the tool (cooling effect). However, these effects are not evident in high speed machining, in particular, when ceramic inserts are employed [1]. The energy consumed in performing a machining operation is mainly converted into heat. Cutting fluids are employed to remove heat from the workpiece, the tool, the fixtures and the machine tool (cooling effect). The heat generated is mainly dissipated in the chip and in the workpiece, a rather small part of heat flows to the tool. However, the highest temperature is obtained at the tool chip interface which leads to diffusion wear and cutting edge degradation. The other important functions of the cutting fluids are to flush away the chips from the cutting zone (flushing effect) and to provide corrosive resistance to the machined component. In addition, it is necessary to understand well the mechanisms that contribute to tool wear and to workpiece surface integrity when working with Inconel 718. Hence, this paper is a general review of the recent developments in the machining of this material and an exploration of the possible ways to dry cutting. In the first part, the characteristics of Inconel 718 that are responsible for its poor machinability are reviewed and the associated problems are listed. Then, the latest research carried out on the use of uncoated and coated carbide tools under wet and dry conditions is summarised. The constant demand to increase productivity and quality has led to the development of ceramic tools. They are used for machining nickel-based alloys at higher cutting speeds and some of their results are given. When surfaces are produced, they need to meet functional service requirements, in particular for the aerospace components. As a consequence, attention is focussed on the parameters influencing the surface quality during machining Inconel 718. Finally, to examine the move towards dry cutting of Inconel 718, interesting alternatives to conventional flooding coolant supply that are minimum

quantity lubrication technologies, are reported and recent innovations of tool coatings for dry machining are discussed. 2. Machinability of Inconel 718 Nickel-based superalloys are widely employed in the aerospace industry, in particular in the hot sections of gas turbine engines, due to their high-temperature strength and high corrosion resistance. They are known to be among the most difficult-to-cut materials. Attention is focussed on the Inconel 718 family in the following paragraphs. The properties responsible for the poor machinability of the nickel-based superalloys, especially of Inconel 718, are [2 6]: a major part of their strength is maintained during machining due to their high-temperature properties, they are very strain rate sensitive and readily work harden, causing further tool wear, the highly abrasive carbide particles contained in the microstructure cause abrasive wear, the poor thermal conductivity leads to high cutting temperatures up to 1200 C at the rake face [7], nickel-based superalloys have high chemical affinity for many tool materials leading to diffusion wear, welding and adhesion of nickel alloys onto the cutting tool frequently occur during machining causing severe notching as well as alteration of the tool rake face due to the consequent pull-out of the tool materials, due to their high strength, the cutting forces attain high values, excite the machine tool system and may generate vibrations which compromise the surface quality. The difficulty of machining resolves itself into two basic problems: short tool life and severe surface abuse of machined workpiece [3,8]. The heat generation and the plastic deformation induced during machining affect the machined surface. The heat generated usually alters the microstructure of the alloy and induces residual stresses. Residual stresses are also produced by plastic deformation without heat. Heat and deformation generate cracks and microstructural changes, as well as large microhardness variations [9]. Residual stresses have consequences on the mechanical behaviour, especially on the fatigue life of the workpieces [10,11]. Residual stresses are also responsible for the dimensional instability phenomenon of the parts which can lead to important difficulties