Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Vol. 2, No.

6, 2008

Systems, and
Manufacturing
Helical Feed Milling with MQL
for Boring of Aluminum Alloy *
Hiroyuki SASAHARA**, Makoto KAWASAKI** and Masaomi TSUTSUMI**
**Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology,
2-24-16 Nakacho, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588, JAPAN
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
MQL is applied to the helical feed milling hole-making process of aluminum alloy.
It is difficult to drill on aluminum alloy without cutting fluid because the adhesion
to the tool leads to a chip jam, the tool breakage or low accuracy. By employing the
helical feed milling, cutting temperature will decrease, each chip length will
become short and a chip jam in a hole will be avoided, because the intermittent
cutting is realized. As a result of employing the helical feed milling with MQL, it
was shown that the shape error is decreased, a burr formation is decreased,
machining temperature becomes low and the cutting force becomes small
comparing with drilling process. Shape error by helical feed milling with MQL is
comparable with that with flood coolant. In this case, small mist particle counts
under 5μm, which affects working environment, are almost constant if the spindle
speed varies. Scattered mist particle counts are less when MQL is employed over
20000 min-1 spindle speed comparing with the flood coolant.

Key words: Milling, Cutting, Boring, Burr, MQL, Lubrication, Drilling, Aluminum
Alloy

1. Introduction
Cutting fluid is required to machine with high accuracy, to obtain good surface
roughness, and to extend tool life, due to its cooling and lubricating effects. But in recent
years, the high cost for disposal of used cutting fluids and pollution of the working
environment has become a serious obstacle [1]. Thus, some machining methods such as
machining without lubricants [2][3][4] or machining with a very small amount of lubricant
with compressed air [5][6] have attracted a great deal of attention. But cutting fluid is
required not only for lubrication but also chip ejection. For a material with high ductility
and easy adherence to the cutting tool such as an aluminum alloy, a flood coolant system is
usually employed.
Currently, a hole can be machined very precisely with an end mill by the circular spiral
motion of a machining center. Some advantages of the helical-feed milling to the
conventional drilling can be supposed as follows: 1) Various diameter holes can be
machined with one tool; and 2) Precise circularity and straightness of the machined hole can
be realized because of the low temperature and reduced burr formation. These advantages
favor the substitution of oil mist lubrication for a flood coolant system in the hole-making
*Received 28 Aug., 2008 (No. T2-02-1213) process. The objective of this study is to clarify the effect of an oil-mist supply on the
Japanese Original : Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. helical-feed milling of an aluminum alloy—and particularly, its effect on machined-surface
Eng., Vol.69, No.684, C (2003),
errors. In addition, the amount of the scattering mist around the cutting point, which
pp.2156-2161 (Received 27 Sep., 2002)
[DOI: 10.1299/jamdsm.2.1030] deteriorates the working environment, was measured. By comparing the flood coolant and

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Systems, and
Manufacturing
MQL, it is clarified that the amount of the scattering mist is smaller when MQL is applied.

2. Machining Strategy on Helical-Feed Milling

Oil-mist is supplied from a nozzle settled outside of the cutting point. In order to avoid
the interference between the nozzle and the endmill during machining inside of the hole, the
nozzle location was set the upper side of the cutting point as shown in Fig. 1. The inner
diameter of the nozzle was 2.0mm, the air was supplied at 120NL/min with 0.5MPa
pressure, and the oil was supplied at 6mL/h. A synthetic ester is a primary ingredient of the
supplied oil. Particle size of the oil-mist was about 1µm.

Rotation

Z End mill
Y Feed Nozzle Z
Y
X
X X

22mm
30°
Tool
Rotation
80°
Nozzle
Tool

Fig.1 Schematic view of helical feed milling with oil mist supply

Aimed hole diameter was 15mm and its depth was 20mm (penetrated hole). By using
10mm diameter endmill without the pilot hole, the circular motion or the spiral motion of
the endmill can machine the aimed hole. Work piece material was an aluminum alloy
A5052. When a helical motion is employed, a decrease error of the circular radius possibly
occurs. From a preliminary experiment, it has been confirmed that the amount of a radius
decrease can be neglected if the feed rate is slower than 500mm/min on the used machining
center. Then the two kinds of helical machining strategy were examined and their
performance was compared.
Strategy (A) ; A rough helical-feed milling with a feed rate of 5000mm/min is
conducted first, then the finish helical-feed milling with a feed rate of
500 mm/min is employed.
Strategy (B) ; All machining process is conducted with a feed rate of 500 mm/min.
It is just one process without the process divide.
Other cutting conditions are shown in Table 1. Machining times for one hole were 32
seconds and 59 seconds for the strategy (A) and (B) respectively.
On the other hand, an aluminum alloy adheres to the tool easily, then the machined
surface becomes worse. It is another problem in the near dry machining of the aluminum
alloy. In order to avoid the adhesion, the endmill was drawn back outside of the hole every
5mm along the hole axis during the helical-feed milling. Compressed air from the oil-mist
supply nozzle exhaust the adhered chip and the oil-mist can be supplied to the tool surface
when the endmill appears at the outside of the hole.
Figure 2 shows the circumference surface profile of the machined hole by helical-feed
milling under the strategy (A) and (B). It can be seen that the machined surface by the
strategy (A) is smooth, whole the surface profile by strategy (B) is distorted because of the
over cutting or tearing caused by the adhered aluminum.
Figure 3 shows the hole diameter along the hole axis. Hole diameter on the case of (B)
was larger than the aimed 15mm. While, on the case of (A), the error of the hole diameter
was much smaller than the case of (B). After the rough machining with feed rate 5000
mm/min, the hole diameter was 13.6±0.02mm because of the decreasing error of the circle
radius. It can be understood that the following finishing process with the feed rate
500mm/min achieved the higher accuracy. Then the helical-feed milling with strategy (B)

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Systems, and
Manufacturing
will be studied further in the following section.

Table 1 Experimental conditions

Workpiece A5052 aluminum alloy

Tool φ10mm solid end mill (SEE-2100)
2 cutting edges
Spindle speed min-1 25,000
Cutting conditions Hole diameter: 15mm
Helical pitch: 1.0mm
Feed rate: 5000mm/min, 500mm/min (Strategy A)
500mm/min (Strategy B)
Down cut
Lubrication Oil-mist with air

3mm 10mm 17mm

(a) Strategy A

3mm 10mm 17mm

(b) Strategy B 1div=20µm

Fig.2 Effect of cutting strategy on surface profile

15.2
Hole diameter　mm

15.1

15

14.9
Condition A
Condition B
14.8
0 5 10 15 20
　Depth of hole mm

Fig.3 Effect of cutting condition on hole diameter

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Systems, and
Manufacturing
3. Quality of Machined Hole
Then, a conventional drilling and a helical-feed milling with an oil-mist supply were
conducted and machining quality such as the circularity and diameter of the hole and burr
formation were compared. Cutting conditions are shown in Table 2. Helical-feed milling
was conducted as shown in Fig.1, with the oil mist supplied from an outer nozzle. In the
helical-feed milling, the roughing process with a feed rate of 5000mm/min was conducted
first; then the finishing process with feed rate 500mm/min was employed to achieve higher
accuracy and efficiency. In addition, a step-feed motion, in which the drill pulls out of the
hole at 5mm intervals in the axial direction, was employed in both helical-feed milling and
drilling.
Table 2 Experimental conditions of drilling
Workpiece A5052 aluminum alloy
Tool φ15mm drill
Spindle speed min-1 2,100
Cutting conditions Hole diameter: 15mm
Feed rate: 630mm/min
Lubrication Oil-mist with air

3.1 Shape Error of Machined Hole

Figure 4 shows the circumference surface profile of the machined hole by helical-feed
milling and conventional drilling. Distorted circles similar to a triangle or a polygon, known
as “life rings,” were shaped after the drilling. On the other hand, better surface profiles were
obtained after the helical-feed milling.

3mm 10mm 17mm

Helical feed milling

3mm 10mm 17mm

Drilling 1div=20µm

Fig. 4 Effect of machining method on surface profile of machined hole

Figure 5 shows the hole diameter along the hole axis. The drilled hole diameter using
the conventional drilling method was larger than the target diameter of 15mm. This is
because the adhesion of aluminum on the cutting edge resulted in over-cutting. In addition,
some fluctuations of the hole diameter could be seen with the conventional drilling. When
the drill exits the hole in the step-feed interval, oil mist is supplied and the lubrication

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Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Vol. 2, No. 6, 2008
Systems, and
Manufacturing
condition becomes good for a short time. But the aluminum begins to adhere to the tool as
the cutting proceeds. Repetition of these process leads to fluctuations in the hole diameter.
Figure 6 shows the burr formation at the entry and the exit of the hole. The hole-edge
quality by helical-feed milling is clearly better than that by conventional drilling.

Hole diameter 　mm

15.1

15

14.9 Helical milling

Drilling

0 5 10 15 20
Depth of hole 　mm

Fig. 5 Comparison of hole diameter

0.5mm 0.5mm 0.5mm

Hole entry 0.5mm Hole exit Hole entry Hole exit

(a) Helical feed milling (b) Drilling

Fig. 6 Burr formations

3.2 Machining Force

The drilling process involves continuous cutting while the helical-feed milling involves
intermittent cutting; the different processes lead to differences in cutting force and
temperature. Figure 7 shows the measured axial cutting force during a helical-feed milling
and a drilling. On the case of the helical-feed milling, the machining point starts from
15mm and ends at 20mm in axial direction. The measurement was conducted using a
piezo-electric type dynamometer. On the case of the helical-feed milling, the maximum
cutting force was 152N. On the contrary, the drilling axial force reached 1691N, which is
about 10 times larger than that in the helical-feed milling. It is because the chisel edge thrust
force is very large, and the feed rate is higher on the drilling.

500msec 200msec
500N
50N

(a) Helical-feed milling (b) Drilling

Fig.7 Comparison of cutting force component in axial direction

3.3 Machining Temperature

To measure the machining temperature, the temperature field on the back surface,
namely the hole-exit side, was measured with a thermograph camera. Figure 8 shows

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Systems, and
Manufacturing
temperature images at the moment the tool emerged from the work-piece back-side, and the
white part shows the high-temperature part. Comparing Fig. 8(a) (rough helical-feed
milling, feed rate 5000mm/min) with Fig. 8(b) (conventional drilling), the maximum
temperature of the latter was higher and the high-temperature region extended farther. This
difference is caused by the higher cutting force and energy in drilling.
Figure 8 (c) shows a thermal image of finishing helical-feed milling with a feed rate of
500 mm/min. This finishing process in helical-feed milling greatly affects the geometrical
accuracy and the machined-surface quality. The measured maximum temperature was 129.2
°C, which was about 100 degrees lower than that of drilling.
As shown above, when oil mist was supplied as a lubricant, the machining accuracy in
conventional drilling became worse. On the other hand, if helical-feed milling was
employed, burr formation, machining accuracy, cutting force and temperature were more
favorable than those of conventional drilling. The only drawback was the machining
efficiency.

201.0°C 227.3 °C 129.2 °C

(a) Helical milling (b) Drilling (c) Helical milling

(Roughing） (Finishing）
Fig. 8 Temperature distribution on back surface of workpiece

4. Effect of Nozzle Positions

When oil mist is supplied from the nozzle set at the outer side of the machining point,
the supply point has a large influence on the lubrication performance. The authors clarified
that a supply point aimed at the exit point in every rotation of the end mill could improve
the tool life compared with the case in which the oil mist was aimed at the tool entry point
[7]. In the hole-making process by helical-feed milling, positioning is the key to enabling
the oil mist to reach deep inside of the hole. The effect of the nozzle direction and the
number of nozzles are discussed in this section.
Figure 9 shows the two kinds of nozzle positions tested. Machining conditions were
deliberately set to cause more severe adhesion, and the interval of the step-feed motion was
conducted at the depth of 8mm, 16mm and 20mm from the entry.
Figure 10 shows the experimental results of circular surface profiles at 3mm, 10mm and
17mm depth from the hole entry. As the machining point became deeper, the shape error
became worse. Over-cutting caused by adhesion of the aluminum to the cutting edge could
be seen especially at the 17mm depth. One nozzle was not sufficient to supply lubricant to
the whole machining point in these deeper regions because the work-piece upper surface
prevented the oil mist supply from reaching deep inside.
The same test was performed using two nozzles as shown in Fig. 11 (a). The total
amount of oil supplied was the same as with one nozzle. It can be seen that the surface
profile was improved as shown in Fig.11(b), and almost no adhesion occurred even at the
deep inside the hole. These experimental results suggest that using two or more nozzles for

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Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Vol. 2, No. 6, 2008
Systems, and
Manufacturing
oil mist supply aimed at deep inside of a hole can work effectively in helical-feed milling of
an aluminum alloy.

q q

r p r p

s s

(a) Position A (b) Position B

Fig.9 Two kinds of nozzle positions

q q q

r p r p r p
Y

s s s X
3mm 10mm 17mm
1div=20µm
(a) Nozzle position A
q q q

r p r p r p

s s s

3mm 10mm 17mm

(b) Nozzle position B
Fig. 10 Effect of nozzle position on surface profile

p
r

(a) Positions of two opposed nozzles

q q q

r p r p r p
Y

s s s X
3mm 10mm 17mm
(b) Surface profile 1div=20µm
Fig. 11 Surface profile when opposed two nozzles were used

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Systems, and
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5. Effect of Cutting Fluid Type
In this section, the effect of the cutting fluid type on the machined surface profile of
helical-feed milling was studied. Three types of cutting fluid—namely, flood coolant, oil
mist, and dry air blow—were employed. The amount of water-soluble type flood coolant
supply was 40 L/min. Oil mist and compressed air was supplied in the same way as shown
in section three.

5.1 Effect on Shape Error

Figure 12 shows circular surface profiles at 3mm, 10mm and 17mm from the top
surface. Figure 13 shows the surface profile along the axial direction of the machined hole
surface. In both figures, there are no apparent differences between the results using flood
coolant and oil mist. However, in dry air blow, the surface quality simply was not as good
because of the adhesion to the cutting edge. Judging from the surface profiles along the
axial direction, the straightness of the hole is also good for both flood coolant and oil mist.

3mm 10mm 17mm

(a) Flood coolant

3mm 10mm 17mm

(b) Oil-mist

3mm 10mm 17mm

(c) Air blow 1div=20µm
Fig. 12 Effect of cutting fluid type on surface profile
Axial direction

Work piece
Work piece
Work piece
5mm/div

5µm/div
Radial direction
(a) Flood coolant (b) Oil mist (c) Air blow
Fig. 13 Effect of cutting fluid type on surface profile in axial direction

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Manufacturing
Figure 14 shows the hole diameter along the hole axis. In the case of flood coolant and
oil mist, the hole diameter was kept constant along the hole depth, and there were almost no
problems for practical use. Thus, in helical-feed milling, good surface quality and accuracy
comparable with results using flood coolant can be achieved by supplying oil mist.
Difference of the cutting fluid also affects the burr formation. Formed burr’s height was
small on the cases of the flood coolant and the oil mist were supplied as shown in Fig.15.
But apparent existence of the burr could be seen when only the air was supplied.
Figure 16 shows the cutting force component in “y” direction during the helical-feed
milling. Cyclic variation could be seen because of its circular motion. Cutting force could
be reduced to 1/3 of the case of air-blow when the flood coolant or oil mist was supplied.
Oil mist supply could achieve the comparable machined surface quality and accuracy on the
helical-feed milling of the aluminum alloy.

15.1

Hole diameter 　mm

15.05

15

14.95 Flood coolant

MQL
Air blow
14.9
0 5 10 15 20
Depth of hole 　mm

Fig. 14 Effect of cutting fluid type on hole diameter

0.5mm 0.5mm

Hole entry Hole exit

(a) Flood coolant

0.5mm 0.5mm

Hole entry Hole exit

(b) MQL

0.5mm 0.5mm

Hole entry Hole exit

(c) Air blow
Fig. 15 Comparison of Burr formation

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Systems, and
Manufacturing

500msec 500msec

100N

100N
500msec

100N
(a) Flood coolant (b) MQL (c) Air blow
Fig. 16 Effect of cutting fluid type on cutting force in y-direction

5.2 Effect to Floating Mist Generation

Supplied quantity of the oil mist on MQL is very small, but a part of the oil mist
scatters and floats in the working environment. In this section, the amount of the floating
mist particles generated during the machining with supplying oil mist or flood coolant were
measured.
Figure 17 shows the amount of small particles contained in 1L of working environment.
The measurement point was set to a position 1m apart from the endmill, and height from the
floor was 1.5m. The door of the machining center was kept opened during the measurement.
Diameter of the endmill was 10mm and number of the flutes was two. Small dusts in the air
were also measured as the small particle. Then the particles originated from the supplied
fluid or oil mist were extracted. As the endmill was simply rotating during the measurement
and an actual cutting wasn’t conducted, the particles originated from the chip forming
process and vaporization and condensation weren’t counted.

4.0E+05
Particle counts per L

3.5E+05
3.0E+05
2.5E+05
20000/min
2.0E+05 30000/min
40000/min
1.5E+05
1.0E+05
5.0E+04
0.0E+00
0.3 0.5 0.7 1 2 5
Particle size µm

(a) Flood coolant

1.2E+05
Particle counts per L

1.0E+05
20000/min
8.0E+04
30000/min
40000/min
6.0E+04

4.0E+04

2.0E+04

0.0E+00
0.3 0.5 0.7 1 2 5

Particle size µm

(b) MQL
Fig. 17 Comparison of particle counts between flood coolant and MQL

Particle counts on the case of the oil mist was supplied was less than the case of the
flood coolant was supplied under all spindle speed over 20000min-1 in the experiment. The
floating particulate increased as the spindle speed increased during the flood coolant supply.
However the quantity of the floating particles during oil mist supply was kept almost
constant if the spindle speed increased. It is because the flood coolant once spreads on the

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Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Vol. 2, No. 6, 2008
Systems, and
Manufacturing
tool surface then it fly off as droplets by the centrifugal force [6]. Therefore the impact to
the working environment becomes relatively small when the oil mist is supplied in the
machining at an especially high spindle rotation speed.

6. Conclusions
In this paper, it was shown that the helical feed milling with oil mist supply can be
substituted for the drilling process, and discussed about the surface profile and machining
states. Then the following conclusions have been reached.
(1) Higher machining efficiency and higher machining accuracy can be achieved by the
combination strategy of rough helical boring and finishing boring in a helical-feed
milling. Even if the decreasing error of the circle radius is occurred, finish machining
with lower feed rate can satisfy the machined hole quality.
(2) When the oil mist is supplied in helical feed milling of aluminum alloy, there are some
benefits comparing with the conventional drilling, 1) shape error is smaller, 2) burr
formation is avoided, 3) machining temperature is lower, 4) cutting force is smaller.
These properties are suitable for high precision machining.
(3) Additionally, it is effective to set the two or more nozzles, and supply direction should
be set close to hole axis to aim at deep inside of the hole.
(4) On the helical feed milling with MQL supply, the machining accuracy is comparable
with using the flood coolant. When the spindle speed condition exceeds 20000min-1,
the floating particles in the working environment with the oil mist supply are less than
the case of the flood coolant is supplied

Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by KAKENHI (13750092). The authors would also
thank KURODA Precision Industries Ltd. and Tungaloy Corp. for their supports in the
experiments.

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