The present work deals with the investigation on machining of difficult-to-machine material titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) using poly crystalline diamond (PCD) tool under different coolant strategies, namely dry, flooded and MQL. Taguchi technique has been employed and the optimization results indicated that MQL lubricating mode with cutting speed of 150 m/min, feed rate of 0.15 mm/rev, nose radius of 0.6 mm and 0.25 mm depth of cut is necessary to minimize surface roughness and dry mode with cutting speed of 150 m/min, feed rate of 0.15 mm/rev, nose radius of 0.6 mm and 0.75 mm depth of cut is necessary to maximize surface hardness. The results indicate the substantial benefit of the minimum quantity of lubrication (MQL) and justify PCD inserts to be the most functionally satisfactory commercially available cutting tool material for machining titanium alloys for better surface finish and hardness.

This paper presents the study on Taguchi's optimization methodology, which is applied to optimize cutting parameters in turning of age hardened Al6061-15% vol. SiC 25 µm particle size metal matrix composites with Cubic boron nitride inserts (CBN) KB-90 grade using steam as cutting fluid. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to study the effect of process parameters on the machining process. This procedure eliminates the need for repeated experiments, time and conserves the material by the conventional procedure. The turning parameters evaluated are speed, feed, depth of cut, nozzle diameter and steam pressure. A series of experiments are conducted using PSG A141 lathe (2.2 KW) to relate the cutting parameters on surface roughness, tool wear, cutting force, feed force, and thrust force. The measured results were collected and analyzed with the help of the commercial software package MINITAB15. As well, an orthogonal array, signal-to-noise ratio is employed to analyze the influence of these parameters. The method could be useful in predicting surface roughness, tool wear, cutting force, feed force and thrust force as a function of cutting parameters. From the analysis using Taguchi's method, results indicate that among the all-significant parameters, steam pressure is the most significant parameter.