Coolant

[malo]

Hi

Can anyone guide me for the best kind of coolant for some material?

I use carbide tools.

Aluminium:

Steel:

Cast iron:

Inconel:

Brass :

or other materials:

Please tell me and guide me by your good experience.

What and where and when do you advise air pressure or oil coolant or chemical coolant?

Thank you

S.M.L

 

[ 04-15-2010, 03:11 AM: Message edited by: malo ]

[Salahuddin]

Hi malo

if you make a search there was several posts talking about the colant

 

here we use blizer , most of the work in aluminum

[robh]

Mostly aluminum here, using Blaser Swisslube blasocut 4000 strong, do not have rancidity issues as we did with two others we tried over the years, the 4000 Strong may be overkill as it is spendy but works very good.

[Nick Eaton]

There are a few considerations when deciding on coolant.

If you are going any faster than 500 SFM the centrifugal forces prevent coolant actually touching the tool surface at all.

Carbide actually breaks down almost as fast if you run it too cool as if you run it too hot.

Chipping on inserts without any dark "burning" discoloration is likely to be insuficient heat generation at the cutting edge.

So for aluminium the most important function of the "coolant" is to wash chips away and prevent recirculation of the chips through the cutter.

There is also a certain amount of lube action because the part is drenched in the stuff. It also provides a stable environment when everything is warmed up.

You can also use an air blast to control the chips and not use coolant at all.

I do all my proveouts on Al with coolant turned off and I just use the air hose to keep the chips under control.

Most steels (including 15-5 SS) can be machined very well with an airblast and no coolant.

Exotics and some high chromium and other alloy steels on the whole require coolant unless you are taking light radial engagement (finish) cuts.

The most important thing with coolant and carbide is to make sure the coolant is completely on before cutter engagement as carbide is susseptible to thermal shock; cutter heats up and is then suddenly showered with cold coolant. This will at least cause micro-cracking and reduce tool life and worst case can cause the cutter/insert to shatter.

A lot of European companies have been moving away from flood coolant due to the stricter environmental laws for some time now. Dry machining and mist coolant are widespread even with exotics. Also saves company money because they don't have to buy large quantities of coolant and they leave all the hazardous waste problems behind.....its probably only a matter of time before these practices become more widespread here.

Cheers

Nick