RESUMEN
Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are interesting materials due to their excellent properties, such as their high strength-to-weight ratio, low thermal expansion, and high fatigue resistance. However, to meet the requirements for their assembly, the drilling processes involved should be optimized. Defects such as delamination, dimensional errors and poor internal surface finish can lead to the premature failure of parts when bolt-joined or rivet-connected. In addition, the characteristic anisotropy and heterogeneity of these materials, and the issues related to the temperature reached during drilling, make it difficult to obtain optimal cutting parameters or to achieve high material removal rates. This research focuses on the optimization of the CFRPs drilling process by means of experimental analysis-varying the feed and spindle speed-for two different types of commercial drills-a twist tool and a dagger tool. An automatic image processing methodology was developed for the evaluation of the dimensional accuracy and delamination of the holes. The optimization was carried out using a multi-objective regression technique based on the dimensional deviations, delamination and surface finish. The areas with favorable machining conditions have been delimited for both tools and the results indicate that the twist tool allows one to achieve more productive cutting conditions than the dagger tool, when the combination of low feeds and high spindle speeds are the conditions to be avoided.
RESUMEN
Titanium aluminides are one of the most promising materials in aeronautical and automotive applications. However, their low machinability makes the processing of these alloys quite difficult under sustainability conditions, specially without lubrication. The current study focuses on the turning process of the Ti48Al2Cr2Nb gamma titanium aluminide under dry conditions. As far as we are aware, dry cutting is the most sustainable feature, although it has not been traditionally applied on titanium aluminides due to the accelerated tool wear that the material promotes. The main novelty of this work consists of providing a simple solution for reducing the tool wear based on the inclination of the cutting insert, what is evaluated in terms of tool wear and tool life, cutting forces, cutting temperature, surface integrity of the machined part, as well as its microhardness and microstructural effects. The results shown here clearly point out a better performance of the machining process. This fact could be understood if we take into consideration that an increment of the clearance angle from 6.3° to 11.6° and 15° increases the tool life by five and six times, respectively, using efficient cutting speeds, whose values have increased by 50% with respect to the original cutting conditions. This improvement is explained according to the reduction in the cutting temperature and friction forces in the flank face of the tool. In addition, the use of uncoated carbide inserts may lead to a better behaviour than the coated ones, considering the results obtained for a PVD TiAlN + AlCr2O3 coated insert herein researched.
RESUMEN
Heat-assisted single point incremental forming or HA-SPIF has a great potential for producing one-piece batches of hard-to-form materials such as Ti6Al4V alloy for medical and aeronautical applications. One of the limitations of the process is the difficulty in achieving a reasonable surface finish, which makes essential the characterization of the tribological process in the tool-sheet contact. In fact, not much work can be found at this point in literature. In this research, a novel procedure for evaluating the adhesion on the tool surface is proposed and the influence of the temperature is determined. The surface finish of parts is analyzed, and the changes promoted by HA-SPIF appearing in the morphology of the external surface layer are characterized by SEM.
RESUMEN
Traditional flood lubrication in machining processes is considered an unsustainable technique. In this paper, the low initial lubrication (LIL) technique is analysed during turning of cupronickel 70/30 alloy, in terms of surface roughness. A tribological analysis has been developed on a pin-on-disk tribometer comparing different lubrication systems, obtaining comparative results of friction and tool wear. It has been found that the tool wear is 73% lower in comparison to flood lubrication. LIL technique shows the ability to reduce the friction coefficient compared to dry machining and leads to improve tool wear in comparison with flood lubrication. The surface integrity evaluation of machined parts finds that the LIL technique can improve the surface roughness under specific machining conditions.
RESUMEN
Titanium is one of the most interesting materials in modern manufacturing thanks to its good mechanical properties and light weight. These features make it very attractive for use in the aeronautical and aerospace industries. Important alloys, such as Ti6Al4V, are extensively used. Nevertheless, titanium alloys present several problems in machining processes. Their machinability is poor, affected by low thermal conductivity, which generates very high cutting temperatures and thermal gradients in the cutting tool. Lubricants and cutting fluids have traditionally been used to solve this problem. However, this option is unsustainable as such lubricants represent a risk to the environment and to the health of the operator due to their different chemical components. Therefore, novel, sustainable and green lubrication techniques are necessary. Dry machining is the most sustainable option. Nevertheless, difficult-to-machine materials like titanium alloys cannot be machined under these conditions, leading to very high cutting temperatures and excessive tool wear. This study is intended to describe, analyse and review the non-traditional lubrication techniques developed in turning, drilling and milling processes since 2015, including minimum quantity of lubricant, cryogenic lubrication, minimum quantity of cooling lubrication or high-pressure coolant. The aim is to provide a general overview of the recent advances in each technique for the main machining processes.
RESUMEN
Ungulates select diets with high energy, protein, and sodium contents. However, it is scarcely known the influence of essential minerals other than Na in diet preferences. Moreover, almost no information is available about the possible influence of toxic levels of essential minerals on avoidance of certain plant species. The aim of this research was to test the relative importance of mineral content of plants in diet selection by red deer (Cervus elaphus) in an annual basis. We determined mineral, protein and ash content in 35 common Mediterranean plant species (the most common ones in the study area). These plant species were previously classified as preferred and non-preferred. We found that deer preferred plants with low contents of Ca, Mg, K, P, S, Cu, Sr and Zn. The model obtained was greatly accurate identifying the preferred plant species (91.3% of correct assignments). After a detailed analysis of these minerals (considering deficiencies and toxicity levels both in preferred and non-preferred plants) we suggest that the avoidance of excessive sulphur in diet (i.e., selection for plants with low sulphur content) seems to override the maximization for other nutrients. Low sulphur content seems to be a forgotten factor with certain relevance for explaining diet selection in deer. Recent studies in livestock support this conclusion, which is highlighted here for the first time in diet selection by a wild large herbivore. Our results suggest that future studies should also take into account the toxicity levels of minerals as potential drivers of preferences.
