Performance Evaluation of Liquid Nitrogen as Coolant in Turning of Al/SiC Metal Matrix Composites (AMMC)

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the turning of Al/SiC (LM-13) composite using Cryogenic Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) as coolant. The influence of machining performance parameters such as cutting force, cutting temperature and surface finish were investigated under wet and cryogenic machining. The results proved that the application of cryogenic LN2 coolant reduced the cutting temperature and the cutting force for about 19 to 30% and 24 to 35% respectively. The surface finish of the machined part is about 10 to 23% better than in the conventional coolant. Thus it was proved that the application of cryogenic coolants reduced the cutting force and temperature which resulted in an appreciable improvement in surface finish in machining of Al/SiC MMC.