Performance assessment of different cooling conditions in improving the machining and tribological characteristics of additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy

Abstract

Owing to the poor surface characteristics, the AM parts require additional processing, such as machining, polishing, etc. Hence, the present work highlighted the new observations of tool wear and surface integrity aspects in the milling of Laser powder bed fusion produced AlSi10mg alloy under different cooling conditions such as dry, flood, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and cryogenic cooling conditions. It was determined that adhesion wear is the primary failure mode observed under milling of AM AlSi10Mg alloy. Flank wear was reduced by 59–63%, 42–45%, and 24–26% under dry, flood, and CO2 conditions, respectively over MQL, which in turn has the effect on surface quality. In addition, it has been noticed that the microstructure has a great effect on the quality of the machined parts and the cryogenic cooling outperformed the MQL cutting method.