A comparison of temperature reduction in high-pressure jet-assisted turning using high pressure versus high flowrate

Cooling with high pressures in turning operations is an effective method for providing higher productivity. Reduced temperature and improved chip control are dependent on the pressure and flowrate of the fluid jet. The aim of the tests was to investigate how the relationship between pressure and flowrate affects the heat dissipation from the cutting zone. Tests were performed on two steel grades and one titanium alloy, allowing the same jet momentum for all materials to enable comparison between pressure and flow. Conventional cooling was used as a reference. Measurements were conducted with thermocouples attached to the clearance face of the tool. The temperature was generally reduced by approximately 50 per cent when high-pressure cooling was applied compared with conventional cooling. The results show that different pressure and flow relationships have a small but significant influence on heat dissipation from the cutting zone for the steel materials. Results show that it is important to have the right combination of pressure and flow in order to achieve optimum temperature reduction. Materials with a higher ductility benefit more from a higher flowrate while materials with a lower ductility require higher pressure. The same jet momentum was used in both cases.