Assessment of cumulative energy demand, production cost, and CO2 emission from hybrid CryoMQL assisted machining

Abstract

China’s manufacturing sector accounts for more than half of the country’s total energy demand, and specifically, metal processing is one of the manufacturing sectors that consume significant energy. However, reducing the electrical energy consumption of the machine tool, improving productivity, and ultimately increasing profit is a challenge while machining difficult-to-cut materials. To mitigate these challenges, advanced hybrid lubri-cooling machining is gaining attention in modern manufacturing. This paper aims to explore a holistic sustainability evaluation of advanced machining technologies specifically, the evaluation of a hybrid cryogenic-LN 2 and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) – named ‘CryoMQL’. In Addition, a comparison of CryoMQL with flood machining of Ti–6Al–4V has been performed. The machining power, specific cutting energy , specific electrical energy consumption, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), carbon emission per part, energy cost, and production cost are considered the key sustainable performance measures . The research findings have shown that the CryoMQL approach is sustainable only when employed at high cutting conditions. Also, sustainable production of LN 2 is inevitable to reduce the CED per part in CryoMQL assisted machining. In addition, the environmental cost considering Chinese manufactured products could be an effective way to reduce carbon emissions since it shares 10.9% of the total cost of the product. The present study is applicable to implement 3E (i.e., Energy, Environment, and Economy) concepts for the Chinese Manufacturing Industry. • External turning of Ti–6Al–4V alloy using Flood and CryoMQL conditions. • New empirical models for sustainable metrics are developed. • A holistic comparison between conventional and CryoMQL approach has been made. • During aggressive cutting, CryoMQL approach produced 27.8% lower-price products. • In present case, CryoMQL is sustainable economically but not environmentally.