LAUSR

Abstract Compared to flood machining, dry machining has sustainable potentials by eliminating the consumption of pump energy and coolant in production. However, the consumption of tool material with high embodied energy is significant in dry machining due to fast tool wear. Nevertheless, the trade-off on cumulative energy demand is not understood yet when considering the usage of materials, energy, and fluids. This study provides an innovative system-level modeling approach to assess the cumulative energy demand and environmental impact in machining of Inconel 718 as a function of energy consumption of machine tool and embodied energy consumption of work material, cutting tool, and coolant. The machine specific energy has been measured in dry and flood milling of Inconel 718. The relationship between specific cumulative energy demands and MRR has been investigated. The threshold MRR to differentiate cumulative energy demand of dry milling and flood milling has been determined. Dry milling has a smaller optimal process window for minimum cumulative energy demand than flood milling. The influence of embodied energy due to material consumption on machining sustainability is significant.