Study on friction reduction performance of granular flow lubrication during the milling of Inconel 718 superalloy
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
ISSN: 0036-8792
Article publication date: 8 March 2024
Issue publication date: 15 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to reveal the friction reduction performance and mechanism of granular flow lubrication during the milling of difficult-to-machining materials and provide a high-performance lubrication method for the precision cutting of nickel-based alloys.
Design/methodology/approach
The milling tests for Inconel 718 superalloy under dry cutting, flood lubrication and granular flow lubrication were carried out, and the milling force and machined surface quality were used to evaluate their friction reduction effect. Furthermore, based on the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) spectrums and the topographical features of machined surface, the lubrication mechanism of different granular mediums was explored during granular flow lubrication.
Findings
Compared with flood lubrication, the granular flow lubrication had a significant force reduction effect, and the maximum milling force was reduced by about 30%. At the same time, the granular flow lubrication was more conducive to reducing the tool trace size, repressing surface damage and thus achieving better surface quality. The soft particles had better friction reduction performance than the hard particles with the same particle size, and the friction reduction performance of nanoscale hard particles was superior to that of microscale hard particles. The friction reduction mechanism of MoS2 and WS2 soft particles is the mending effect and adsorption film effect, whereas that of SiO2 and Al2O3 hard particles is mainly manifested as the rolling and polishing effect.
Originality/value
Granular flow lubrication was applied in the precision milling of Inconel 718 superalloy, and a comparative study was conducted on the friction reduction performance of soft particles (MoS2, WS2) and hard particles (SiO2, Al2O3). Based on the EDS spectrums and topographical features of machined surface, the friction reduction mechanism of soft and hard particles was explored.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52175397).
Conflict of interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability statement: The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also form as part of an ongoing study.
Funding: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52175397) and the State Department project of China (Grant No. JF2020-1-0422).
Citation
Ma, L., Mao, X., Li, C., Zhang, Y., Li, F., Pang, M. and Feng, Q. (2024), "Study on friction reduction performance of granular flow lubrication during the milling of Inconel 718 superalloy", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 76 No. 3, pp. 382-391. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-12-2023-0386
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited