Review of cooling techniques used in metal cutting processes

Selection of proper cooling system for respective machining is one of the critical problems among manufacturers, which can reduce cutting tool wear and cutting temperature-related issues. Many machining applications experience rapid wear of cutting tools due to a rise in temperature at work piece-tool interface. To overcome these obstacles, researchers have tried different approaches to cooling. This article describes a review of different cooling techniques used by researchers and their respective effects on heat generation on cutting tools and tool life. The study contains a review of dry cutting, cryogenic machining, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), air cooling, nanofluids, and vegetable oils as a cleaner alternative to conventional mineral and chemical-based coolants. The study suggests that eco-friendly machining methods such as MQL, Nanofluids with MQL, and cold air-assisted MQL have great potential among all, can overcome difficulties observed during dry machining, and more economical than cryogenic cooling. On the other hand, developments in vegetable oils show that bio-based coolants can perform satisfactorily well in machining and with the added advantage of biodegradability. This review can help machinists decide on suitable eco-friendly cooling systems for the respective machining operation in an optimum way.