Dry machining: Machining of the future

Machining without the use of any cutting fluid (dry or green machining) is becoming increasingly more popular due to concern regarding the safety of the environment. Most industries apply cutting fluids/coolants when their use is not necessary. The coolants and lubricants used for machining represents 16–20% of the manufacturing costs, hence the extravagant use of these fluids should be restricted. However, it should also be noted that some of the benefits of cutting fluids are not going to be available for dry machining and also dry machining will be acceptable only whenever the part quality and machining times achieved in wet machining are equalled or surpassed. This paper presents recent developments in the dry machining operation.