Procedia Manufacturing Volume XXX, 2015, Pages 1–10 43rd Proceedings of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME http://www.sme.org/namrc Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Z.Y. Liu1, M.P. Sealy1, Y.B. Guo1*, Z.Q. Liu2 1 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA 2 School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China Abstract Energy consumption is a serious concern for manufacturing industry because it not only consumes substantial amounts of energy but also produces huge amount of greenhouse CO2 emissions. Previous research has focused on the relationship between energy consumption and process conditions at the machine tool and spindle levels. However, little has been done to investigate the energy consumption in actual material removal at the process level. In this study, power profile and energy consumption at the machine tool, spindle, and process levels were characterized in hard milling. A new concept at the process level, net cutting specific energy, was defined to investigate the energy consumed by actual material removal. The relationship between cutting conditions and energy consumption at each level was studied. The results indicate that net cutting specific energy may not be predicted by the traditional model. Keywords: Energy consumption, dry cutting, sustainable manufacturing 1 Introduction 1.1 Energy consumption in metal cutting Energy consumption is of serious concern for manufacturing companies because of the considerable costs and environmental impact. In fact, more than 20% of the operating cost throughout the entire life of a machine tool is from electrical energy consumption (Abele et al., 2011). In US, nearly 80% of the energy used to operate machine tools comes from electricity produced by burning fossil fuels, which emit a considerable amount of greenhouse gas (Dahmus & Gutowski, 2004). Electrical energy consumption during milling can be minimized by carefully selecting process parameters. The difficulty is selecting process parameters that balance the requirement to lower energy consumption with the need to maintain sufficient surface integrity. Energy consumption can be * Corresponding author Tel.: 1-205-348-2615; fax: +1-205-348-6419. E-mail address: [email protected] Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Programme Committee of NAMRI/SME c The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. 1 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu lowered several orders of magnitude at high material removal rates at the sacrifice of surface integrity. The converse is also true. Superior surface integrity is achievable by lowering material removal rates at a cost of increased energy consumption. Suitable selection of process parameters can strike a balance between energy consumption and surface integrity. The difficulty is in determining how to select process parameters. Typically, process parameters are chosen to minimize energy consumption at the machine tool or spindle motor levels. Analyzing energy consumption at these macro-levels leads to a gross oversight of the energy used to generate a new surface. Energy consumption to generate a new surface must be considered since it directly relates to surface integrity. Therefore, a thorough study on the relationship between process parameters and energy consumed on each level is needed to better understand the delicate balance between energy consumption and surface integrity in manufacturing. 1.2 Classification of energy consumption Energy consumption of a machine tool can be evaluated at different levels: machine tool, spindle, and process levels, see Fig. 1. At the machine tool level, the energy consumed by the whole machine tool (e.g. control systems, cooling and lubrications units, drive systems, spindle motor, manufacturing process, etc.) is considered. Understanding the relationship between energy consumption and cutting conditions at this level is practical for improving the overall efficiency of machine tools. The problem of analyzing energy consumption on this level is that it is machine tool dependent. Comparing different manufacturing processes or even the same process that uses different machine tools is impractical. At the spindle level, the energy consumed by the spindle motor is considered. The electricity consumed by the spindle motor rotates the cutting tool in milling. It has been reported that the spindle can consume more than 15% of the total energy (Dietmair et al., 2006). Energy consumption at this level may be useful in analyzing spindle motor efficiency; however, the problem is analogous to that of the machine tool. The spindle energy is dependent on the motor which widely varies across machine tools. In addition, spindle energy is incomparable to other manufacturing processes. At the process level, only the energy consumed by actual material removal is included and is independent of the machine tool. Energy consumption at the process level governs chip formation and surface generation. Therefore, this energy should be considered when selecting process parameters where the objective is to balance energy consumption with surface integrity. New surface (a) machine tool level (b) spindle level (c) process level Fig. 1 Energy consumption classification. 2 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu 1.3 Related work The development of analytical models of energy consumption is critical for reducing energy consumption in manufacturing. A model developed by Gutowski et al. decomposes energy use into idle and cutting states and is based on direct energy required at the machine tool level (Gutowski et al., 2006). The model by Kara and Li characterizes the relationship between energy consumption at the machine tool level with material removal rate (MRR) (Li & Kara, 2011). This model accounts for actual cutting, air cutting, auxiliary motors through constants in the model. In contrast, the measured energy consumption at spindle level was used in the model by Diaz et al. to establish the relationship between specific energy and MRR (Diaz et al., 2011). Schlosser et al. proposed a fundamentally different model format based on the unit specific cutting force and an equalizing correction factor (Schlosser et al., 2011). However, the specific cutting energy for this model is also at the spindle level. The model by Draganescu et al. is at the spindle level and incorporates efficiency of the motor (Draganescu et al., 2003). Previous models are focused on the relationship between energy consumption and process parameters at the machine tool or spindle levels. However, little work has been done to characterize energy consumption at the process level, i.e. the energy consumed by the actual cutting process. At the process level, the relationship between specific energy and process parameters is poorly understood. Since energy consumption at the process level is responsible to chip formation and surface generation, a thorough study of energy consumption at this level is critical to understanding and optimizing a machining process. In this study, dry milling of hardened tool steel AISI H13 was conducted since it is a finishing process widely used in mold/die manufacturing. Compared to grinding, hard milling can be conducted without the use of cutting fluids, thus generating less wastes and better sustainability (Klocke et al., 2005). Also, the material removal rate (MRR) in hard milling is relatively small, which is better suited for achieving a favorable surface integrity. The objectives of this paper are to (1) characterize the cutting power consumption characteristics in hard milling, (2) evaluate the energy consumption at the machine tool, spindle, and process levels, and (3) establish a relationship between energy consumption and process conditions. 2 Experiment Setup and Energy Measurement 2.1 Workpiece material and cutting tool Hardened AISI H13 tool steel (50 ± 1 HRC) was end milled with a CICINNATI Arrow 500 3-axis machining center without cutting fluid. Workpiece dimensions were 100 mm × 20 mm × 12 mm with the longest being the cutting length. The surface of the sample was face milled to remove any heat treatment induced surface defects. The cutting tool used in this experiment was a 20 mm diameter end mill cutter with two (Ti,Al)N/TiN coated carbide inserts (SECO XOMX120408TR-D14, 30M). The tool was kept at a sharp condition as the flank wear (VB) was less than 0.06 mm for all experiments to minimize the influence of tool wear effect on energy consumption. 2.2 Energy measurement The power of the machine tool and spindle were measured with a Fluke NORMA 5000 power analyzer. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 2. A laptop was connected to the power analyzer for recording and processing power signals. The sampling rate was 341 kHz. Data was averaged and output every 150 ms or 300 ms depending on the cutting conditions. 3 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu Insert before cutting Cutting tool 250 µm Power meter Workpiece Insert after cutting VB < 60 µm 250 µm Fig. 2 Experimental setup of power measurement and tool condition. 2.3 Experiment design The experiment design is given in Table 1. The effect of cutting speed (v), feed per tooth (fz), radial DoC (ae), and cutting mode (up/down) on energy consumption was investigated. The v, fz, and ae were studied at three levels reflective of typical finish machining conditions. In order to reduce experimental error, each process condition was repeated three times. Table 1 End Milling Experiment Design Cutting speed v (m/min) 100 200 300 200 200 200 200 Feed per tooth fz (mm/tooth) 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.05 0.2 0.1 0.1 Radial DoC ae (mm) 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.4 Axial DoC ap (mm) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Cutting mode up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down up, down 3 Results and Discussion 3.1 Power profile characteristics A power profile for a representative cutting pass at the machine tool, spindle, and process levels which includes idle state, spindle acceleration/deceleration, air cutting, and milling is shown in Fig. 3. The total power (Fig. 3a) begins at approximately 1.4 kW for the first 10 seconds until the spindle motor is accelerated. This power is attributed to auxiliary systems needed to run the machine tool. Naturally, the power consumed by the spindle motor is zero until the spindles are turned on and accelerated to the appropriate rotational speed, see Fig. 3b. Once the spindle motor was turned on, a high power peak was observed as the spindle accelerated. The power profiles indicated that the 4 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu acceleration of the spindle against inertia consumed a significant amount of energy in a very short time span. Also, the total and spindle power profiles show that the deceleration of the spindle produces a negative power peak because the machine tool has a regenerative supply module which can reconvert the spindle kinetic energy into electrical energy during the deceleration process. The spindle power increased from 0.45 kW to approximately 0.49 kW when cutting started. For this particular case, only 40 W was attributed to material removal. spindle deceleration 10 0 0 -10 10 20 Time (s) 30 (b) 20 (c) 0.55 10 cutting 0 0 -10 10 20 30 Spindle power (kW) spindle acceleration Spindle power (kW) Total power (kW) (a) 20 air cutting cutting air cutting 0.50 ܲ݊ܿݏ Ps ܲ݊ܿ ܲܽܿݏ tc ܲܽܿ ݂ 0.45 ݂ 0.40 Time (s) 10 15 20 Time (s) Fig. 3 Representative power profile in one cutting pass at (a) machine tool, (b) spindle, and (c) process levels. Table 2 Power Terminology tୡ Cutting time ୱ Pୟୡ Starting power at air cutting Pୟୡ Final power at air cutting Pୱ Spindle power ୱ P୬ୡ Starting net cutting power P୬ୡ Final net cutting power P୬ୡ Net cutting power A representative power profile of cutting at the process level and related terminology are shown in Fig. 3c and defined in Table 2. Spindle power (௦ ) is power consumption of the spindle during material removal. The power consumption of spindle during air cutting is defined as air cutting power ௦ ( ). Starting power at air cutting ( ) is the spindle air cutting power before material removal. Final power at air cutting ( ) is the spindle air cutting power after material removal. Net cutting power ( ) more accurately represents power consumed in generating a new surface. is defined as the difference between the power consumption of spindle during material removal ௦ (௦ ) and air cutting ( ), which is an average of the starting net cutting power ( ) and final net ௦ cutting power ( ). Starting net cutting power ( ) is the difference between the spindle power (௦ ) ௦ and the start power at air cutting ( ). Final net cutting power ( ) is the difference between ௦ and ௦ the final power at air cutting ( ). There was on average a 1.3% difference between and . 5 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu The specific energy of cutting has historically been defined as the energy consumption to remove a unit volume of material. With this definition, there is ambiguity as to which energy consumption (total, spindle, or net cutting) should be considered when determining the specific energy of cutting. In this study, specific energy is defined at three levels, the total specific energy (Ut), spindle specific energy (Us), and net cutting specific energy (Unc). At each level, the specific energy was calculated by the corresponding power consumption divided by material removal rate. 3.2 Specific energy vs. MRR The calculated total energy and net cutting specific energy vs. MRR are presented in Fig. 4. The empirical models reported by (Li & Kara, 2011) (Eq. 1) and (Diaz et al., 2011) closely approximate the measured total specific energy with an R2 value of 99.1%. However, the regression curve fits the data poorly when this model is used to analyze net cutting specific energy. Therefore, the traditional model has poor predictive capabilities for net cutting specific energy. In contrast with total specific energy, net specific cutting energy cannot be predicted solely with MRR. A more accurate modeling approach is required to establish the relationship between net cutting specific energy and MRR. U௧ = Total specific energy Ut (J/mm3) 500 1327.9 + 10.3 MRR Net cutting specific energy Unc (J/mm3) 600 ܴଶ = 99.1% 400 300 200 100 0 0 5 10 15 16 U = 16.2 + 3.0 MRR 12 8 4 0 0 5 10 15 (b) Material removal rate, MRR (mm3/s) (a) Material removal rate, MRR (mm3/s) Fig. 4 Net cutting specific energy and total specific energy vs. MRR U= ܥଵ + ܥ MRR (1) 3.3 Specific energy vs. cutting conditions The effect of process parameters (i.e. cutting speed, feed per tooth, and axial depth of cut) on the total, spindle, and net cutting specific energy is shown in Figs. 5-7, respectively. The total and spindle specific energy show the same trends. Of course, the magnitude of the total specific energy is higher than that of the spindle because of the power used by auxiliary systems is included within the data. Again, this is the shortfall of analyzing specific energy at the machine tool and spindle levels; the data is machine tool/spindle motor dependent. As each process parameter increased, the total and specific energies decreased. At these levels, there was a negligible difference between up and down milling. At the process level, it can be seen from the Fig. 7 that the net cutting specific energy also dropped when the fz and ae increased. In contrast, the net cutting specific energy increased with higher cutting 6 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu speeds. This may be explained by strong strain hardening caused by the higher strain rate. It can also be seen at the process level that up milling consumed more energy than down milling (8.5% on average). This is contributed by the longer tool/chip contact length during up milling as compared to down milling that requires more energy to remove. Total specific energy Ut (J/mm3) 600 ae = 0.5 mm ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm ap = 1.0 mm fz = 0.1 mm/tooth v = 200 m/min ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min fz = 0.1 mm/tooth Up Down 500 400 300 200 100 0 100 200 300 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Cutting speed v (m/min) Feed per tooth fz (mm/tooth) Axial DoC ae (mm) Fig. 5 Influence of process parameters on total specific energy. Spindle specific energy Us (J/mm3) 250 ae = 0.5 mm ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm ap = 1.0 mm fz = 0.1 mm/tooth v = 200 m/min ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min fz = 0.1 mm/tooth Up Down 200 150 100 50 0 100 200 300 Cutting speed v (m/min) 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Feed per tooth fz (mm/tooth) Axial DoC ae (mm) Fig. 6 Influence of process parameters on spindle specific energy. 7 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu Net cuttng specific energy Unc (J/mm3) 16 12 ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm fz = 0.1 mm/tooth ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min fz = 0.1 mm/tooth Up Down 8 4 0 100 200 300 Cutting speed v (m/min) 0.05 0.1 0.2 Feed per tooth fz (mm/tooth) 0.3 0.4 0.5 Axial DoC ae (mm) Fig. 7 Influence of process parameters on net cutting specific energy. 3.4 Energy efficiency The energy efficiency (η) of cutting at various process parameters is shown in Fig. 8. The efficiency is defined as the ratio of the net cutting specific energy (Unc) to the total specific energy (Ut). The energy efficiency at the various conditions in this experiment varies from 1% to 6%. Results show that energy efficiency increases as v, fz, and ae increase. Even though energy efficiency increases with MRR, surface roughness increases which sacrifices the surface integrity of a precision part. 7% Energy efficiency (η) 6% ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm fz = 0.1 mm/tooth ae = 0.5 mm ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min ap = 1.0 mm v = 200 m/min fz = 0.1 mm/tooth 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 100 200 300 Cutting speed v (m/min) 0.05 0.1 0.2 Feed per tooth fz (mm/tooth) 0.3 0.4 0.5 Axial DoC ae (mm) Fig. 8 Relationship between energy efficiency and process parameters. 8 Energy Consumption Characteristics in Finish Hard Milling of Tool Steels Liu, Sealy, Guo and Liu 4 Summary and Conclusions The power consumed by dry hard milling tool steel AISI H13 was measured and analyzed. Energy consumption was investigated at the machine tool, spindle, and process levels. The concept of net cutting specific energy was defined to characterize energy consumed by the actual material removal. The effect of cutting parameters on total, spindle, and net cutting specific energies was investigated. The key conclusions are summarized as follows: • Energy consumption at machine tool level can be described with a traditional empirical model effectively. However, this model is incapable of predicting energy consumption at the process level. Therefore, it is insufficient when balancing low energy consumption with a superior surface integrity. • Specific energy at machine tool, spindle, and process levels decreases when increasing the process parameters except cutting speed. • Up milling consumes slightly more energy than down milling. This difference is negligible at the machine tool and spindle levels due to the relatively small percentage of energy consumption at the process level. • Energy efficiency of hard milling varies from 1% to 6% at different cutting conditions. Although efficiency during dry hard milling can be increased with a higher MRR, care must be taken to appropriately select process conditions that do not sacrifice part quality for the sake of efficiency. 5 Acknowledgements The corresponding author would like to thank Prof. John Sutherland for discussing the concept of specific cutting energy. 6 References Abele, E., Sielaff, T., Schiffler, A. (2011). Analyzing energy consumption of machine tool spindle units and identification of potential for improvements of efficiency. Glocalized Solutions for Sustainability in Manufacturing: Proceedings of the 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 280-285. Dahmus, J.B., Gutowski, T.G. (2004). 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