The machining and metalworking industry needs faster cutting, better finishes and longer tool life for machining challenging materials. However, these demands are often at odds with one another. Faster, deeper machining greatly increases cut temperatures which leads to faster tool degradation and poor surface finish, and the need for post-finishing operations to improve dimensional tolerance adds time and cost to the production.
A new fully-adjustable minimum quantity cooling lubrication (MQCL) technology – Tunable MQCL™ – has been developed to address new materials and machining process challenges, as well as imperatives regarding environmental quality and energy conservation. Referring to the figure below, Tunable MQCL technology provides numerous cooling-lubricating sprays ranging from dry to and near-dry compositions. Tunable MQCL compositions utilize various combinations ionized fluids, oxygenated machining lubricants (Triox™) and CO2 – formulated and applied in-situ and as-needed to improve the productivity and economics of challenging machining applications. Finally, Tunable MQL utilizes our new Vector™ Pro CO2 Composite Spray generation and control platform. Compositional and cooling capacity adjustments are performed manually or automatically using pneumatic pressure control.
In an example of use, hard turning causes premature tool or tool coating wear and poor surface finish with increases in cutting speed and depth of cut. Under more demanding conditions, conventional metalworking coolant-lubricant technologies are ineffective, resulting in less-than-optimal machining productivity and machined surfaces. Tunable MQCL technology was specifically developed to address and optimize machining process heat, enabling both increased cutting speeds and depths while improving surface finish.
In another example, Tunable MQCL significantly enhances the performance and cost of PCD/MCD cutting of precision plastics, composites and optical polymers. The machining spray operational cost for single point turning using Tunable MQL is less than U$1 per hour (fully-burdened) to gain as much as 100% or more improvement in machining productivity with longer tool life and better finish.
Tunable MQCL provides longer tool life, deeper and faster cutting, and better dimensional tolerance control and surface finish. Tunable MQCL™ technology is available in our commercial OzoKool™ machining fluid systems and OEM CPU® – CO2 Processing Units.
