Fabrication, transport behaviors and green interrupted cutting performance of bio-inspired microstructure on Al2O3/TiC composite ceramic surface

Abstract

Fabrication, transport behaviors and green interrupted cutting performance were studied for the bio-inspired microstructure on Al2O3/TiC composite (micro-composite and micro-nano-composite) ceramic surface. Manis pentadactyla's scale provided inspiration for the establishment of the bio-inspired microstructure. The bio-inspired microstructure was divided into the lipophilic zone (ZL) and the oleophobic zone (ZO). Zone ZO with square protruding microtexture was designed to be unchanged, while six different kinds of microtextures were proposed for zone ZL. Then, six kinds of bio-inspired microstructures were prepared by nanosecond laser processing and surface modification to realize spontaneous transportation of the base oil of vegetable-oil-based nanofluid (VN). Moreover, investigations were conducted to evaluate the performance of the bio-inspired microstructure in VN minimum quantity lubrication (VNMQL) interrupted cutting. It was found that higher transport speed resulted in more adequate lubrication and lower cutting load, leading to better performance of the bio-inspired microstructure. The combination of longitudinal sawteeth microtexture in zone ZL and micro-nano-composite ceramic can be employed to acquire both the highest transport speed and the optimum cutting performance. The proposed bio-inspired microstructure efficiently enhanced the performance of Al2O3/TiC composite ceramic tool in VNMQL interrupted cutting.