Sustainability improvement in milling operation through improved tool design and optimized process parameters-an industrial case study

Current machining practice in a South-East England SME was studied over a 6 month period. This was preceded by exploratory academic research in sustainable machining and a set of short industrial observations/interviews. Preliminary machining tests conducted in the industry on Delrin, aluminium, carbon steel, stainless steel and Inconel 718 indicated more energy savings would be desirable with Inconel. New cutting tools were developed with potential to reduce energy consumption and tested on various features. The effect of using a trochoidal toolpath was also investigated. The results show that energy reduction was obtained for some of the features. Surface finish and tool wear and quality of type of chip produced were not impaired. The results have raised awareness of the potential for energy reduction in the SME and a major tool manufacturer involved in the study. The study has acted as exploration of factors important in the dissemination of sustainable machining in industry. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).