Sustainable assessment of a milling manufacturing process based on economic tool life and energy modeling

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions are caused by human activities, one of which is the manufacturing process, which is the main driver of global warming. The machining process is a common practice in sectors such as aerospace and automotive. Based on the latter, this research focuses on understanding and testing an alternative way to make an economically sustainable machining process. This study reports on the performance of tool life analysis under dry settings, and the cutting speed calculation considers machining and tooling costs. Developing a design of the experiment established the power demand equation, which is part of the energy model presented in this research, and it also helps to understand the carbon dioxide emissions to the environment before starting the milling process. Based on the results, the tool life evaluation shows the longest working time under good tool conditions with a measured surface roughness of less than 0.6 μm. The energy model shows the alternative to improve energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 0.11 kWh and 0.055 kg CO2, respectively, which is essential to understand the challenge of reducing the manufacturing footprint.