Reducing costs and improving productivity remain at the heart of all businesses; however the shift toward environmental awareness and employee welfare is of increasing importance. Whilst we are all aware of the causes and effects our actions have upon the environment we must also be alert to our immediate working environment. To this end, TaeguTec continues to develop its range of products that work with Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) a process that mixes oil with air to optimize the cooling process.
Dry machining? Not always the best. The immediate working environment in the manufacturing industry can be noisy, dusty & dirty and can also generate health problems related to coolant usage. In this case, a major issue in the workplace is inhalation of mist type coolants and extremely high pressure coolant applications commonly used in high specification machine tools. The cutting and machine tool industry has worked to resolve the issue and one solution can be dry machining. TaeguTec has been a pioneer with this kind of work. However, in some cases this creates reduced tool life, poor surface finishes, deformation of the workpiece and difficulty in handling high temperature swarf.
Semi-dry machining cutting tools As an alternative, TaeguTec has worked to develop MQL or semi-dry machining cutting tools. The MQL tooling delivers environmental improvements for the customer and the employee operating the machine. One area that TaeguTec has developed MQL tooling for with considerable success is drilling. When high speed machining generates from 700 to 800 degrees C at the cutting edge, tool life can fall considerably and it is here that MQL can be applied affectively as it can reduce heat generated and improve surface finishes. Despite coolant being the best solution for general steel machining applications, when high speed machining processes generate upwards of 1,000 degrees C the coolant evaporates at the contact area before having any substantial benefit. In fact the cooling effect is reduced and tool life decreases. A similar situation occurs with low speed machining of heat resistant alloys such as inconel and it is here that MQL comes to the fore.
TaeguTec Ltd 304 Yonggye-4ri Gachang-myeon Dalsung-gun Daegu 711-864 KOREA
Phone: 82-53-760-7640 Fax: 82-53-760-7660 [email protected] www.taegutec.co.kr
