In the rail industry, there are four types of steel grades used for monoblock wheels, namely ER6, ER7, ER8 and ER9. ER7 steel is manufactured in accordance with the EN13262 standard and is utilized in European railway lines. These train wheels are formed by pressing and rolling after which they are machined using turning process to achieve their final dimensions. However, machining ER7 steels can be challenging due to their high mechanical properties, which can facilitate rapid tool wear and thermal cracking. Therefore, while the use of coolants is critical to improving their machinability, using conventional flood coolants adds extra operational costs, energy and waste. An alternative is to use minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) cooling technology, which applies small amounts of coolant mixed with air to the cutting zone, leaving a near-dry machined surface. In the current study, preliminary tests were undertaken under dry conditions and using coated carbide inserts to determine the optimal cutting parameters for machining ER7 steel. The impact of the cutting speed and feed rate on surface roughness (R_a), energy consumption and cutting temperature were investigated and used as a benchmark to determine the optimal cutting parameters. Next, additional machining tests were conducted using MQL and nano-MQL cooling technologies to determine their impact on the aforementioned machining outputs. According to preliminary tests, and within the tested range of the cutting parameters, using a cutting speed of 300 m/min and a feed rate of 0.15 mm/rev resulted in minimal surface roughness. As a result, using these optimal cutting parameters with MQL and Nano-MQL (NMQL) cooling technologies, the surface roughness was further reduced by 24% and 34%, respectively, in comparison to dry conditions. Additionally, tool wear was reduced by 34.1% and 37.6%, respectively. The overall results from this study demonstrated the feasibility of using MQL coolants as a sustainable machining alternative for steel parts for rail wheel applications. In addition, the current study highlight the enhanced performance of MQL cooling technology with the addition of nano additives.

This study presents the impact of molybdenum (Mo) inclusion on microstructure, mechanical, and machinability behavior of steels manufactured with powder metallurgy (PM) approach. PM steel samples with different molybdenum ratios were pressed at 750-MPa pressing pressure and sintered in the atmosphere-controlled tube furnace at 1400°C for 1 h. While particle size and distribution of phases of PM steels with different molybdenum ratios were determined by optical microscope, mechanical properties were determined by applying tensile test. The results were observed that 3% Mo weight-added steel displayed the maximum yield and tensile strength. In addition, the machinability properties of 3% Mo-added steel, which has the highest yield and tensile strength, were investigated. In this work, we researched the thrust force and surface roughness as machinability output, and drilling parameters on the output were determined by utilizing analysis of variance. Finally, SEM images were taken from the inner surfaces of the machined holes and the fractured surfaces from tensile test, and information about the machinability of this alloy produced with PM was presented. As a result, an increase in yield and tensile strength and a reduction in strain were identified with the increase in Mo content. Moreover, the coated cutting tools are better on the machining output than the uncoated cutting tools in terms of green environment. The most important factors on the Fz and Ra are the coating condition and the feed rate with 56.53% and 43.62% PCR, respectively.