Objective
Due to environmental, health, and economic
considerations, there is a strong user demand to replace
the presently used machining technology based on
synthetic lubricants by a technology based on lubricant
free machining. Cutting fluids are non biodegradable,
necessitating an expensive waste disposal procedure for
environmental protection, and they are noxious substances
causing allergies of the working personnel. In addition,
economic reasons justify the introduction of dry
machining: waste disposal and cleaning are estimated to
contribute about 10 20 % to the machining costs.
Lubricant free machining on an industrial scale is
presently difficult to realize since the cutting tool
materials do not sustain the high temperatures which are
formed at the contact areas. The objective of this
proposal is to make a dry machining process possible,
through reducing the contact area temperature by i) the
use of new types of low friction hard coatings and ii) an
optimization of the cutting tool geometry for the dry
machining process.
The novelty of this proposal is the use of new types of
low friction hard coatings and the use of a new geometry
of the cutting tools. The coatings to be studied are i)
Multiphase MBxNyCz coatings (M = Ti, Zr or Hf) consisting
of hard phases (such as MN and MB2) and one soft
lubricating phases (h BN and C) and ii) Multilayer
coatings containing hard sublayers of various composition
such as TiN, TiB2, TiC, and lubricating sublayer such as
C, MoS2, and WS2 with various sublayer thickness. The
optimization of tool geometries (side rake angle, flute
clearance etc.) will be performed on an empirical basis.
After the identification of the best combination of
coating and tool geometry, endusers will perform final
tests under realistic industrial conditions.
The well balanced consortium is led by one of the major
European manufacturers of cutting tools (Guhring) who
will contribute its expertise in testing and modifying
cutting tools. An industrial expert coater (.D.E.M.) will
be responsible for the deposition and optimization of
coatings on rotationally symmetric cutting tools. To
cover a representative range of cutting operations, four
end users from different industrial sectors will be
involved: a manufacturer of forming tools for car
components (Gammastamp), a manufacturer of axles for
trucks and other vehicles (Sisu Axles), a paper machine
producer (Valmet), and a high volume manufacturer of cars
and components (Rover). A research institute (IAM/JRC)
will be responsible for the development and
characterization of coatings and a research institute
specialized in metal machining processes (ILM CNR) will
contribute to the monitoring and evaluation process of
end user tests.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringtribologylubrication
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste management
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringsubtractive manufacturing
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
72458 Albstadt
Germany