Towards Sustainable and Intelligent Machining:Energy Footprint and Tool Condition Monitoring for Media-Assisted Processes

Reducing energy consumption is a necessity towards achieving the goal of net-zero manufacturing. In this paper, the overall energy footprint of machining Ti-6Al-4V using various cooling/lubrication methods is investigated taking the embodied energy of cutting tools and cutting fluids into account. Previous studies concentrated on reducing the energy consumption associated with the machine tool and cutting fluids. However, the investigations in this study show the significance of the embodied energy of cutting tool. New cooling/lubrication methods such as WS2-oil suspension can reduce the energy footprint of machining through extending tool life. Cutting tools are commonly replaced early before reaching their end of useful life to prevent damage to the workpiece, effectively wasting a portion of the embodied energy in cutting tools. A deep learning method is trained and validated to identify when a tool change is required based on sensor signals from a wireless sensory toolholder. The results indicated that the network is capable of classifying over 90% of the tools correctly. This enables capitalising on the entirety of a tool’s useful life before replacing the tool and thus reducing the overall energy footprint of machining processes

Recent advancements in nano-lubrication strategies for machining processes considering their health and environmental impacts

Industries have been seeking an efficient lubrication system that meets the requirement of sustainability without compromising manufacturing efficiency or final part quality. Conventional cutting fluids have been recognized as hazardous to the environment, health and economy of industries. The nano lubrication strategy has emerged as a sustainable and power-efficient lubrication system with encouraging performance in machining processes. This paper encapsulates an overview of the impact regarding usage of nanofluid as a cutting fluid in different machining processes. The recent innovations in the past decade, altered nano lubrication systems have been briefly summarized. A state of art review commences with a short synopsis of the historic perspective followed by a summary of the impact of nanofluid on different machining processes. The discussion section has been bifurcated according to the characterization of machining performance metrics. The environmental and health issues that emerged with the use of nanofluid are then discoursed thoroughly. Finally, the major findings are summarized and the future scope of research is identified. It can be quantified that the implementation of a nano lubrication system can significantly improve the heat transfer characteristic of base fluid which ultimately leads to the functionally tremendous product. However, there are major unknowns related to the health and environmental impact of nanoparticles