In the field of machining difficult-to-cut materials like titanium or nickel-based alloys, the use of a high-pressure lubricoolant supply may result in a significant increase of productivity and process stability. Due to enhanced cooling and lubrication of the cutting zone and thus reduced thermal tool load, tool wear can be decreased which allows higher applicable cutting speeds. Furthermore, the process stability can be increased as a result of effective chip breaking and chip evacuation. The present paper investigates the effect of high-pressure lubricoolant jets, directed into the tool—chip interface, in a longitudinal turning process with cemented carbide tools. For this type of lubricoolant supply the reduction of the contact length between tool and chip is an important detail. In turning of Inconel 718 and Ti6Al4V, the cutting tool temperature, tool wear, and resulting chip forms as well as the ratio of cutting forces and tool—chip contact area were analysed as a function of the lubricoolant supply pressure and flowrate (up to 300 bar, 55 l/min). To study the effect of the high-pressure lubricoolant supply, reference tests were carried out using conventional flood cooling. The results suggest that the tool temperature can be decreased by almost 25 per cent by the use of a high-pressure lubricoolant supply for both machined workpiece materials. However, due to the different tool wear mechanisms of the presented materials and the change in the specific load on the cutting edge during machining, the resulting tool wear was influenced differently. In the best case, tool wear could be reduced in an order of magnitude of 50 per cent, while in other cases tool wear even increased significantly due to the use of a high-pressure lubricoolant supply.

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Besides developments in the area of dry machining and minimum quantity lubrication, the use of coolant lubricants is still essential when machining high alloyed steels or heat resistant materials like titanium and nickel based alloys. Experts agree that this fact will not change in the next decade. For this reason it is necessary to use coolant lubricants as effectively as possible to maximise their positive effect on productivity and process stability. High-performance cooling strategies like high-pressure cooling and cooling with cold gases (cryogenic cooling) have received increased attention in the last years. Through the targeted supply of coolant lubricants to the cutting site it is possible to decrease tool wear, increase cutting speeds, guarantee defined chip breakage and chip transport and – in terms of cryogenic cooling – waive part cleaning. This paper shows current research results in the above mentioned field. Since the performance of a high-pressure coolant lubricant supply in turning difficult to cut materials has been shown in many previous papers, this paper focuses on the quantification of the potential in turning different steels, namely quenched and tempered but also stainless steel in comparison to the conventional flood cooling. Since energy efficiency is very crucial, pressure and flow rate have to be adjusted carefully and in accordance with the cutting parameters to guarantee best results with less energy. Moreover the effects of cryogenic cooling will be evaluated in comparison to high-pressure cooling and conventional flood cooling. In latter field, cutting tests were carried out under variation of the flow rate in order to find the minimum required value for a certain machining task with the overall aim to prevent waste of the media used. Especially in cryogenic cooling technologies, many fundamental research regarding the working mechanisms but also further developments in cutting tool and machine tool technology are still necessary to make this technology ready for industrial use.

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