Lubricant-transport behavior and mechanical performance of assembled multi-biomimetic structure designed for green interrupted turning

Abstract

The integration of vegetable oil-based minimum quantity lubrication (VMQL) and cutting process has received widespread attention due to its great sustainability. Taking the great potential of biomimetics into consideration, constructing biomimetic structure on tool surface is expected to cause effective improvement of VMQL assisted cutting process. Inspired by five different kinds of biological structures, assembled multi-biomimetic structure (AMBS) was designed on Al2O3/TiC micro-nano-composite ceramic tool. Moreover, this work explored the effects of AMBS on VMQL assisted interrupted turning. Durable lubricant-transport behavior was examined experimentally and theoretically for the proposed AMBS. In addition, a theoretical index PAS integrating fracture resistance and cutting load was established to evaluate the mechanical performance of AMBS. Furthermore, tool wear was employed to analyze the experimental performance and validate the effectiveness of AMBS. The present work focused on the influences caused by the side length Lb of the biomimetic hexagonal structure, the laser angle Al and the shape of the superlipophilic region. It was found that impact, scratch and high temperature had limited effects on the wetting behavior of AMBS, resulting in the durable lubricant-transport behavior of AMBS. Index PAS can be utilized as a useful tool for pre-evaluating the mechanical performance of AMBS. The construction of AMBS led to decrease of both fracture resistance and cutting load. The tool performance was effectively enhanced since the decrease of cutting load had a greater impact. The optimum AMBS appeared when Lb was 250 μm, Al was 90° and the superlipophilic region had a convex shape.

Keywords

• Lubricant-transport behavior
• Mechanical performance
• Assembled multi-biomimetic structure
• Ceramic tool
• Green interrupted turning