Environmentally friendly machining with MoS2-filled mechanically microtextured cutting tools

This work aims to develop an environmentally friendly manufacturing by avoiding the use of cutting fluids during machining and reducing power consumption. Here, texture was fabricated on the rake face of the plasma-nitrided high-speed steel cutting tool by using a scratch tester. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) solid lubricant was filled into this mechanically developed texture to form a self-lubricating tool. Dry turning experiments were conducted using the MoS2-filled textured, unfilled textured, and plain (conventional) cutting tools to evaluate and compare their machining performance in terms of workpiece temperature, machining force, workpiece centerline average surface roughness, coefficient of friction, and chip morphology. Results revealed that filled textured cutting tools considerably improve the machining performance compared with those of plain and unfilled textured cutting tools. Therefore, these tools can eliminate the use of cutting fluids and minimize energy consumption.