Environmental, Economical, and Machinability Based Sustainability Assessment in Hybrid Machining Process Employing Tool Textures and Solid Lubricant

Different techniques can be employed to improve the sustainability and machinability characteristics of a machining process. The sustainability assessment analyzes different aspects and indicators of an operation, including environment (energy consumption and carbon emission), economy (cost and production rate), and social (operator health and safety). The comparison of machining techniques based on sustainability assessment requires quantitative evaluation of indicators and sustainability index (SI) based on machining characteristics. Current research employs two main techniques of tool textures (on dual tool faces) and solid lubricant during the external grooving operation to make a sustainable hybrid process. Tool textures include pit-shape and linear patterns fabricated on rake and clearance faces. Results showed that in the case of energy consumption, the linear textured tool with solid lubricant consumed the minimum value by about 10.7 kJ. In the case of carbon emission, linear textured tool in dry machining conditions emitted about 0.008 kg-CO2 which was the minimum value. In the case of cost, a linear textured tool in dry machining conditions required 0.118 $ which was the cheapest process. In the case of production rate, the linear textured tool with solid lubricant presented the highest production rate by about 1773 parts/shift. On average, textures achieved about 23 higher SI values whereas solid lubricant reduced SI by about 13. Finally, linear texture in the dry condition achieved the most considerable value of the SI (52.5) and was selected as the best sustainable machining operation.