Surface quality improvement in CNC end milling machined aerospace AL-2017-T4 alloy using carbon onion nanolubrication with dlc cutting tool

Aerospace applications and energy saving strategies in general raised the interest and study in the field of lightweight materials, especially on aluminum alloys. Aluminum AL2017-T4 alloy which is used in this research work has low specific weight and high strength to rate ratio and also high electrical and thermal conductance. This alloy is widely used in industry and in particular in aircraft structure. The (CNC) milling machine facilities provides a wide variety of parameters setup, making the machining process of the duralumin AL-2017-T4 excellent in manufacturing complicated special products compared to other machining processes. However, the demand for high quality focuses attention on the surface condition and the quality of the product, especially the roughness of the machined surface, because of its effect on product appearance, function, and reliability. The key solution for this issue is by increasing the effectiveness of the existing lubrication systems as it could reduce the friction component in machining process. For more improvement, introducing the nanolubrication could produce much less friction in the tool chip interface as the rolling action of billions units of nanoparticle could reduce the coefficient of friction significantly. The tool selection is the other significant parameter for better machined surface quality. Diamond like carbon (DLC) coated tool application is providing less coefficient of friction between the tool chip contact surfaces. In this research work, the DLC coated tool has been used to machine the duralumin AL-2017-T4 while the carbon onion nanoparticle has been mixed with ordinary mineral oil as a nanolubrication system. The 38.68% reduction of surface roughness could be obtained when 1%wt of carbon onion nanolubricant concentration is used compared with the case of using ordinary lubrication. This is mainly attributed to the tribological properties of the DLC coated cutting tool in conjunction with the carbon onion nanolubricant to reduce the coefficient of friction in the tool chip interface.