Liquid nitrogen spraying in hard machining process of AISI H13 steel

ABSTRACT

The application of liquid nitrogen is being considered nowadays because it is clean and environmentally friendly and improves product quality. The cryogenic cooling can also be useful in hard machining process where workpiece is exposed to high thermo-mechanical loads. Thermal loads are one of the factors affecting residual stresses and microstructural changes in a material. There is no study in literature to evaluate the effect of cryogenic cooling for evaluation of thermo-mechanical loads during the machining of the hardened AISI H13 steel. Therefore, in the present study, to control and investigate the thermal loads, microhardness, white layer thickness, and surface quality in hard machining of AISI H13 steel, the cryogenic cooling system was employed during the process. Results indicated that depth of cut was the most influential item on temperature enhancement of cutting zone, while high feed rates were responsible for enhancement of microhardness surface roughness. Intense and rapid cooling using the liquid nitrogen spraying was found effective strategy to reduce white layer thickness and improve surface quality at the machined surface.

KEYWORDS:

• Liquid nitrogen
• microhardness
• roughness
• white layer
• thermal load

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.