Experimental Comparative Analysis of Superalloy Inconel 600 in Dry and Wet Machining Conditions: Implications as a Sustainable Machining Approach

The machinability of Inconel has attracted considerable interest because of its resistance to high temperature deformation and corrosion (Art Kracke, Superalloys, the most successful alloy of the system- past present and future, The minerals, metals and material society 2010, p 13–50.). Sustainable machining of Inconel grades is a challenging task maintaining high productivity, good quality of the manufactured parts and low power consumption during machining. With conventional machining, the goal of this study is to increase material removal rate (MRR) while reducing surface roughness (Ra) and total power consumption (Pt) by optimizing input machining parameters viz. speed (S), feed (f) and depth of cut (d). Inconel 600 was turned on a semi-automatic lathe with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) turning inserts under dry and wet conditions. Taguchi's signal to noise (S/N) ratio served as the basis for determining the parameters’ substantial contributions. f was found to be the most influencing machining parameter compared to d and S in most of the cases. Desirability function approach was applied to find the optimal input settings for multi-objective optimization. It was found that dry machining consumed less power and was environmental friendly. Dry machining is preferable for sustainable machining of Inconel 600. On the other hand, wet machining condition offered less tool wear and a better surface finish.