Development of a virtual sensor for the comparison of heat partitions in milling under cryogenic cooling lubrication and high-pressure cutting fluid supply

Manufacturing high precision and high performance parts in aerospace, automotive and medical industries often requires machining of difficult-to-cut materials such as titanium, nickel and hardened alloyed steel alloys. Low productivity and environmental damage are major problems in cutting these materials, which vitally require optimized cooling strategies. High-pressure cutting fluid supply (HP CF) and cryogenic cooling lubrication (CRYO CL) are two of the most effective cooling lubrication approaches to increase tool life, productivity and avoid scrap production. The scientific and knowledge-based application of HP CF and CRYO CL had a pivotal role in improving the machining of difficult-to-cut materials, specifically in milling processes. In this context, the quantification of the cooling and lubrication effect of HP CF and CRYO CL is essential in order to adapt to the fluctuating heat generation at the cutting zone. The novel concept of a soft sensor for the quantification of the cooling and lubrication effect in the milling process is presented in this paper. This soft sensor integrates force measurements and transient temperature data from the process with the help of a mechanical model as well as an inverse temperature model. These models elevate the measured force and temperature signals to heat flows and power in the thermodynamic domain enabling an energy balancing in the real milling application. A telemetry system was used to measure the transient temperature in the milling tool with embedded thermocouples when milling 42CrMo4 and Ti-6Al-4V in αβ and β conditions. This way the separated cooling versus lubrication effect of high-pressure cutting fluid supply and a single channel cryogenic cooling lubrication based on carbon dioxide (CO2) and oil is investigated and compared with dry machining at various cutting parameters and proceeding tool wear.