Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Performance and mechanism evaluation during milling of CFRP laminates

under cryogenic-based conditions
Fan Zou a, Jiaqiang Dang a, Xianfeng Wang b, Hongzhou Zhang b, Xiaofeng Sun b, Qinglong An a, *,
Ming Chen a
a
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China
b
Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Shanghai, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Due to the hygroscopicity of CFRP, dry and/or near-dry cutting conditions instead of conventional flood lubri­
CFRP cation is recommended for CFRP machining. However, thermal damage, poor surface integrity, and harmful dust
Surface quality occur when machining CFRP under dry conditions. To address the above problems, this paper aims to investigate
Green lubri-cooling conditions
the machining performance of CFRP laminates under cryogenic-based conditions, which are characterized as
Material removal
cryogenic supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) and vegetable oil-based cryogenic minimum quantity lubrication
Supercritical carbon dioxide
Cryogenic minimum quantity lubrication (CMQL). The milling temperatures, milling forces, surface quality and surface generation mechanism were
particularly studied to analyze the effect of cooling category on the milling performance of CFRP under varying
cutting parameters. To reveal the underlying mechanisms of performance evolution with different lubri-cooling
conditions, the basal tribology and wettability tests were innovatively carried out as a function of lubri-cooling
environments. Results indicate that the minimum milling forces, milling temperatures and machined surface
roughness were obtained under CMQL condition. Cryogenic cutting operation reduces the cutting temperature,
increases the cutting force while improves the surface quality. The mechanism of material removal is signifi­
cantly different under different tool-fiber angles. This study also demonstrated the feasibility of cryogenic cut­
ting, especially CMQL condition to improve the surface quality during CFRP precision machining.

1. Introduction
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is widely utilized in the
aerospace industry as a lightweight material with excellent mechanical
performance [1,2]. Milling and drilling are ineluctable machining op­
erations for CFRP to satisfy the requirements of high-accuracy assembly
[3-5]. Substantial machining-induced damages, including mechanical
and thermal defects, lead to poor machined surface quality and a
decreased fatigue life [6,7]. Hence, high-efficiency and high-quality
machining of CFRP is of great importance for its wide application in
aerospace field [8].
The essential reason of machining defects is the limited heat-
resistance of polymer matrix [9]. The resin matrix of CFRP will un­
dergo irreversible glass transition at high temperature, which will cause
degraded strength and serious damage under the effect of high cutting
forces and cutting temperatures [10,11]. The glass transition tempera­
ture of CFRP commonly utilized in the aviation industry is usually
located in the range of 80–180 ◦ C [12]. Because of its porosity, CFRP
usually has a certain water absorption and moisture, which will greatly
reduce the bonding strength in the subsequent assembly process [13].
Dry cutting and near-dry cutting instead of traditional flood lubrication
are recommended for CFRP machining [14]. During dry milling of CFRP,
the cutting temperature is much higher than the glass transition tem­
perature (Tg) [15]. Excessive cutting temperature and cutting force
during dry cutting will cause high mechanical and thermal damages.
Therefore, lower cutting speed is usually to be selected in production,
which leads to low production efficiency and poor surface quality. To
address this problem, advanced cooling methodologies for CFRP
machining necessitate great attention.
In recent years, green lubri-cooling methods have been widely used
within both the academic and engineering community. Among them,
cryogenic cutting is one of the most popular methods and arises much
attention. The choice of a low-temperature cooling medium mainly
determines the performance of cooling and lubrication. At present, the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: qlan@sjtu.edu.cn (Q. An).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.114578
Received 30 March 2021; Received in revised form 25 June 2021; Accepted 13 August 2021
Available online 19 August 2021
0263-8223/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Zou et al.
Table 1
Compositions of T800/X850 CFRP composite.
Fiber Matrix Density Fiber volume fraction Fiber diameter
3 machining of CFRP. They found that the cutting force and the tool wear
T800 X850 1.6 g/cm 65% 5 μm
cooling media commonly used for cryogenic cutting include liquid ni­
trogen (LN2) [16], liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) [17], cool air, and su­
percritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) . ScCO2 is a cheap, safe, and eco-
friendly cooling medium where it is held at or above its critical tem­
perature and pressure, and can be easy prepared and preserved at room
temperature [18]. The temperature of scCO2 at nozzle drops rapidly
(about - 78 ◦ C) due to the Joule-Thomson effect. Meanwhile, scCO2 has
excellent solubility for vegetable oil used in a minimum quantity
lubrication system. A novel scCO2-based hybrid cooling method (i.e.
CMQL), which combines the advantages of cryogenic and MQL tech­
nique can thus be proposed. The applications of carbon dioxide cooling
were mostly concentrated on the metallic materials machining. Rahim
EA et al. [19] found that the application of scCO2 was more efficient for
reducing cutting temperature compared to minimal quantity lubrication
technique during machining the medium carbon steel. An et al. [20]
found that the performance of scCO2 with MQL is superior to single
scCO2 owing to the improved lubrication during milling Ti6Al4V.
So far, there is a considerable lack of studies on CFRP machining
associated with eco-friendly lubri-cooling techniques. Morkavuk et al.
[10] conducted a comparative study of CFRP milling under dry and LN2-
based cryogenic cutting conditions. They found that the cutting force is
larger and machined surface quality is better under cryogenic condition
than that of dry condition. Kumar et al. [12] studied the machining
damage and surface integrity of CFRP milling under dry and cryogenic
Fig. 1. Microstructure of CFRP material used in this study.
Fig. 2. Details of the used segmented flute pitched cutter.
2
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
cutting conditions. They reported similar phenomenon that the
machined surface quality is improved and cutting force increased under
cryogenic condition. Iskandar et al. [21] introduced MQL into the
reduced under MQL cutting condition. The previous scientific reports on
the lubri-cooling conditions of CFRP machining are independent cryo­
genic or MQL method, almost without considering the CMQL condition.
When cutting CFRP at low temperature condition, the cutting force is
higher than that at room temperature, and the tool wear may be
enhanced [22]. When MQL technique is adopted, the cutting tempera­
ture is difficult to be greatly reduced [21], and the thermal damage
cannot be avoided. However, CMQL can reduces both the cutting force
and cutting temperature, and shows the great potential of application in
CFRP high-speed machining.
The current work aims to address the milling performance evolution
of CFRP with the alternation of cooling conditions. To reveal the un­
derlying mechanisms induced by the lubri-cooling conditions, the
tribology and wettability tests were conducted in terms of the friction
coefficient and contact angle. A series of milling tests were carried out
under dry, scCO2 and scCO2-based MQL (CMQL) conditions. Cutting
force, cutting temperature and surface topography were carefully
measured and discussed under different cooling conditions with varying
machining parameters.
2. Experiment details
2.1. Material and cutting tool
The workpiece utilized in the experiment was carbon/epoxy (T800/
X850) multidirectional CFRP laminates with a geometric size of 300
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 3. Experimental setup for tribology test of CFRP laminate under different conditions.
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of cryogenic-based conditions.
mm × 200 mm × 10 mm. The compositions of T800/X850 CFRP lami­
nates are shown in Table 1. CFRP workpiece was symmetrically lami­
nated to achieve quasi-isotropy, in which 64 plies are totally involved, as
shown in Fig. 1. The ply scheme was [45/0/0/− 45/0/90/0/0/90/0/
− 45/0/0/45]s. The CFRP laminates used were provided by the
manufacturing company (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China
Ltd.).
As shown in Fig. 2, the cutting tool utilized in this study is a
segmented flute cutter with two intersecting helical flutes. The complex
geometry of the cutting tool is designed to reduce the cutting force and
suppress delamination [23]. The segmented cutter has a diameter of 12
mm, 14 primary flutes with a helix angle of 15◦ , and 13 intersecting
flutes with a helix angle of − 45◦ . The tool material is cemented carbide
(Grade: YG6), and a diamond coating with a thickness of about 8 μm is
prepared on the tool surface by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) pro­
cess. Diamond-coated cutting tools have extremely high hardness and
wear resistance, low friction coefficient and are suitable for cutting
CFRP materials [24].
2.2. Tribological test of CFRP under different conditions
As illustrated in Fig. 3, the tribology test was conducted on a ball-on-
disc rotating friction tester (HT-1000), which can precisely control the
test temperature. The ball specimen with a diameter of 6 mm and disk
specimen are diamond coated WC-Co ball and T800/X850 CFRP,
respectively. The cemented carbide and diamond-coating are consistent
with those of the used cutting tool. It is noted that the sliding surfaces are
CFRP machined surfaces with a roughness of Sa 3.2 μm. The sliding
surface contains all fiber directions to obtain the average tribology
performance. The tribology test was performed in this work to reveal the
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Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
tribological behaviors of the tool and workpiece under different tem­
perature and lubrication conditions, which is a common technique used
by the researchers [25]. It should be noted that the lubrication condition
between the tribology test and the actual machining process is indeed
different. However, as a common evaluation technique the results of
tribology test can provide several guidances for revealing the difference
of tribological conditions during machining process with different
lubrication techniques. During dry and cryogenic cutting of CFRP, the
temperature range of cutting area is about 0–200 ◦ C, which is verified by
the existing research [12] and the subsequent cutting temperature
measurement in this paper. The dry tribology tests at 10 ◦ C, 50 ◦ C,
100 ◦ C, 150 ◦ C, and 200 ◦ C were carried out to compare the tribological
behaviors between the cutting tool and the workpiece at different
machining temperatures. Besides, 50 μL soluble vegetable oil (used in
CMQL system) and emulsified cutting fluid (used in conventional flood
system) were added to the friction process at 10 ◦ C to study the lubri­
cation effect. It is noted that the friction velocity and load were set as 30
m/min and 2 N for all the tribology tests. Each group of tribology test
was carried out for about 7 min, and the friction coefficient in the stable
stage was taken for further analysis. The lubricant was supplied by the
test tube during the ball on disc test.
2.3. Wettability tests
To explore the interacting mechanisms between the cutting fluid and
the interaction surface of cutting tool and CFRP, the contact angles were
measured by a drop shape analyzer (DSA100). Cutting fluids for CMQL
system and conventional flood system was used, and the volume of
droplets was 5 μL. The details of tested cutting fluid for CMQL are shown
in Section 2.4. The tested cutting fluid for conventional flood lubrication
F. Zou et al.
Table 2
Parameters of CMQL cooling/lubrication system.
Cooling/lubrication Cutting fluid and its operating parameters
type
Dry None
ScCO2 Supercritical carbon dioxide, pressure: 8.5–9 MPa, CO2 flow
rate: 2 g/s, nozzle diameter: 4 mm
CMQL Supercritical carbon dioxide mixed with vegetable oil,
pressure: 8.5–9 MPa, CO2 flow rate: 2 g/s, oil flow rate: 20
mL/h, nozzle diameter: 4 mm
system is an emulsified cutting fluid, which is mixed by 5% soluble
cutting oil (Castrol Hysol X oil) with water. The tested surfaces are
diamond coated cemented carbide surface and CFRP machined surface.
It is necessary noted that the measured roughness of CFRP machined
surface is about Sa 3.2.
2.4. Lubri-cooling conditions
The schematic diagram and parameters of lubri-cooling system are
shown in Fig. 4 and Table. 2, respectively. Vegetable oil (colza oil mixed
with some functional additives) is dissolved in scCO2 to form a high-
pressure scCO2-oil fluid [26], which could atomize at the nozzle to
form a mix jet of gas-CO2/solid-CO2/oil droplet due to the Joule-
Thomson effect. If scCO2 cryogenic is solely selected, antifreeze and
soluble vegetable oil will not be added to supercritical carbon dioxide,
and the jet mediums at the nozzle are gas-CO2/solid-CO2. The external
cooling method was adopted in the experiment. The two nozzles are
symmetrically distributed, and the efficient distance [27] between the
cutting tool and the outlet of the nozzle is about 55 mm. The tempera­
ture at the nozzle is measured to be about - 70 ◦ C. After solid-CO2 is
sprayed toward the cutting area, it can quickly sublimate into gas-CO2,
which can effectively remove the CFRP chips, help the oil mist particles
penetrate into the cutting area, and achieve an excellent lubrication
effect [28].
2.5. Milling test
Fig. 5 shows the experimental setup for the milling test of CFRP
laminates. The tests were carried out on a vertical machining center
(Hurco VMX42). CFRP specimens were firmly clamped on a dyna­
mometer (Kistler 9272), which is connected to a multichannel charge
amplifier (Kistler 5070A). The value of tool overhang is about 50 mm
and the value of tool run-out is less than 4 μm with the help of high-
precision hydraulic chuck (SANDVIK CoroChuck 930). During CFRP
milling, the in-situ signals of cutting force were gathered and saved by a
Fig. 5. Experimental setup for the milling tests under different cooling conditions.
4
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
data acquisition system. The sampling frequency of cutting forces was 5
kHz and the milling temperature was monitored in real-time with an
infrared thermal imager (FLIR A615). The emissivity of the infrared
thermal imager has been adjusted for cutting tool temperature mea­
surement [11,29] by the black body calibration method. The effects of
cutting speed, feed rate, and cooling conditions on the milling process of
CFRP were studied by the full factorial experiment design. The detailed
milling parameters are presented in Table 3. Milling force, milling
temperature, surface roughness and surface topography are carefully
measured and analyzed.
After finalizing all the experiments, the machined surfaces under
different cutting conditions were observed by a scanning electron mi­
croscope (MIRA3-TESCAN). Besides, the three-dimensional morphology
of the machined surface was measured by a laser scanning confocal
microscope (KEYENCE VK-X200) and the surface roughness was
accordingly calculated. Each tool-fiber angle is included in the surface
roughness measurement to ensure the reliability of the results. Mean­
while, Sa measured by the entire surface profile is more suitable for
characterizing the complex surface morphology of CFRP composites
than Ra measured by a line profile [30]. Three repeated tests were
conducted for each parameter, and the average value was adopted for
analysis to ensure the data reliability.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Tribological performance
The results of tribology test are shown in Fig. 6. It can be intuitively
found that the friction coefficient decreases significantly with the in­
crease of temperature. When the cutting temperature increases from
10 ◦ C to 200 ◦ C, the friction coefficient decreases about 50%. The
observation agrees well with the findings of Wang et al. [31]. In general,
high temperature leads to a degraded modulus of CFRP [32]. According
to Eq. (1), the degraded modulus results in a subsequent decrease in
contact stress. Meanwhile, the elastic modulus of the epoxy resin in
Table 3
Milling parameters used in this study.
Cutting conditions Levels
Cutting speed (m/min) 50, 100, 200
Feed rate (mm/rev) 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4
Axial cutting depth (mm) 10
Radial cutting depth (mm) 1
Cooling/lubrication type Dry, scCO2 and CMQL
Milling type Up milling
F. Zou et al. Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578

Fig. 6. Tribology performance of CFRP laminate under different conditions.

Fig. 7. Contact angle of vegetable oil and emulsified cutting fluid with diamond coating and CFRP machined surface.

Soluble vegetable oil used in MQL system shows an excellent lubri­

Fig. 8. Heat sources and conduction during cutting CFRP materials.
cation effect between diamond coating and CFRP machined surface, and
the friction coefficient decreases significantly (about 60%). Compared
with emulsified cutting fluid, the lubrication effect of soluble vegetable
oil is more durable. The results show that the lubrication performance of
emulsified cutting fluid decreases rapidly and the friction coefficient
increases rapidly in 1 min after dropping, and it has no lubrication effect
in 3 min after dropping. The emulsified cutting fluid has a low viscosity
and thus it is difficult to form an oil film attached to the friction surface.
As a result, the friction coefficient increases rapidly with the increase of
friction time. Due to the hydrophobic and lipophilic characteristics of
diamond coating used in CFRP machining, it is difficult for traditional
emulsified cutting fluid to adhere to the tool surface and enter the cut­
ting zone.

CFRP decreased significantly with the increase of temperature [33],

3.2. Contact angle
which accordingly changed the friction mechanism. The decrease of
contact stress and the change of friction mechanism all contribute to the
As shown in Fig. 7, the diamond coating has good hydrophobic and
decrease of friction coefficient at high temperature.
lipophilic properties and similar phenomena were also observed by
6 1 F Huang et al. [34]. The vegetable oil for MQL has a good affinity with
q0 3 = ∙ ∙ (1)
π3 R0 (1− μ1 2 2
)2
diamond coating, and the contact angle is only 8.4◦ . Although the af­
E1
+ 1− Eμ22 finity of the emulsified cutting fluid is improved by adding additives
[34], the contact angle is still much greater than that of vegetable oil.
where Ro represents the diameter of the ball, q0 represents the maximum This shows that vegetable oil is very easy to adhere to the diamond-
value of contact stress, μ1 represents the Poisson’s ratio of the ball, μ2 is coated tool surface under MQL cutting conditions, and a small amount
the Poisson’s ratio of the CFRP disk, E1 represents the elastic modulus of of lubricant can result in a good lubrication effect. Meanwhile, the
the ball, E2 represents the elastic modulus of the CFRP disk. attached low-temperature vegetable oil droplets can cool the tool more
quickly than the free convection of air during milling of CFRP. The

5
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 9. Relationship between the cutting tool surface temperature and cutting parameters under different cooling conditions.
contact angles of vegetable oil, emulsified cutting fluid with machined
CFRP surface are similar in size, which are 31◦ and 42◦ , respectively.
3.3. Cutting temperature
Cutting temperature is an important index to evaluate the milling
process of CFRP. The schematic diagram of heat sources and heat con­
duction during cutting CFRP materials is shown in Fig. 8. The friction-
induced temperature trends to account for a large proportion of the
overall cutting temperature (even more than 70 % [35]). The cutting
heat generated in region I and region II will be taken away by the
powder chips, which slightly affects the milling temperature of the
cutting tool and CFRP workpiece. CFRP is a kind of material with serious
cutting rebounding and a great deal of cutting heat will be generated in
region III. This part of cutting heat will conduct to workpiece and tool
flank, resulting in the temperature rise.
Fig. 9 shows the evolution of maximum cutting tool surface tem­
peratures with cutting parameters in different lubri-cooling conditions.
Maximum cutting tool surface temperatures reflects the cutting tem­
perature [29]. It can be noted that the cutting tool surface temperatures
under scCO2 and CMQL condition is 58.5% and 70.3% lower than that of
dry condition, respectively. The influence of cooling mode on cutting
temperature is much higher than that of speed and feed. The cooling
effect of CMQL is better than that of sole scCO2. Two reasons may ac­
count for this behavior: (i) the thermal conductivity of low-temperature
oil drops is significantly higher than that of air, (ii) the lubricants in
CMQL reduce the friction coefficients between cutting tool flank and
CFRP workpiece. Meanwhile, the change of cutting temperatures with
varying cutting parameters under cryogenic and CMQL conditions is
6
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
slower than that of dry cutting. As far as cutting parameters are con­
cerned, the cutting temperature increases significantly with the increase
of cutting speed. With the increase of cutting speed, the friction length
between the cutting tool and the CFRP in unit time increases signifi­
cantly, and more heat is thus generated. With the increase of feed rate,
the cutting temperature increases slightly. This is because, with the in­
crease of feed rate, the material removed per unit time increases and
more energy is consumed. The effect of feed rate on cutting temperature
is higher than cutting speed in CMQL, while the opposite is true in dry
and scCO2. This is because the introduction of lubricant in CMQL greatly
reduces the heat generated by friction, thereby inhibiting the tempera­
ture increase effect caused by the increase of friction distance per unit
time.
3.4. Cutting force and cutting force coefficient
Cutting force is an important index to evaluate machining perfor­
mance. Fig. 10 (a) shows the in-situ cutting force signal during milling
CFRP. It can be seen that the axial force (Fz) is almost zero. Meanwhile,
the amount of cutting force peak is identical to that of the milling cutter
teeth, which is 14 per turn as shown in Fig. 10 (b). The resultant cutting
force (Fr), which considers three components of cutting force, was
calculated based on Eq. (2).
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
Fr = Fx 2 + Fy 2 +Fz 2 (2)
Fig. 10(c) shows the evolution of resultant cutting force with cutting
parameters under different cooling environments. It can be seen that the
cutting force under cryogenic condition is the highest while it shows the
F. Zou et al. Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578

Fig. 10. Relationships between the cutting force and cutting parameters under different cooling conditions.

Fig. 11. The schematic diagram of force generation during down milling CFRP.
lowest magnitude with CMQL condition. During dry cutting. the resin
matrix of CFRP softens under high cutting temperatures and the friction
coefficient thus decreases, both of which in turn results in a smaller
milling force compared with cryogenic milling. As shown in Fig. 10(d),
vegetable oil forms a low-temperature lubricating film [36] on the tool
surface under CMQL condition. The introduction of oil film changes the
friction mechanism and reduces the friction coefficient, leading to a
significant reduction of cutting force. The downtrend of milling force is
different from that of drilling, in which the introduction of MQL will lead
to an increase of thrust force [37]. This can be attributed to the accu­
mulation of CFRP chips by vegetable oil during CFRP drilling, which
inhibits the discharge of chips and increases the cutting force. In CFRP
milling, the introduction of MQL will not affect chip removal. As far as
cutting parameters are concerned, the cutting force increases signifi­
cantly with the increase of feed, and decreases slightly with the increase
of cutting speed. With the increase of feed rate, the material removal per
unit time increases, resulting in the increase of energy consumption and
cutting force. The reason why the milling force decreases slightly with
the elevation of cutting speed is that high cutting speed leads to high

Fig. 12. Edge and cutting force coefficients under the arranged cooling conditions.

7
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 13. Surface and edge morphologies under different cooling conditions.
Fig. 14. Surface roughness with a function of cutting parameters under
different cooling conditions.
cutting temperature, resulting in resin softening and degradation. Thus,
there is no significant correlation between cutting speed and cutting
force when the cutting temperature is greatly reduced under CMQL
condition.
To reveal the mechanisms of force evolution under different cooling
environments, the cutting force model was also established. Based on
the theory of orthogonal cutting and oblique cutting, the cutting edge of
the cutting tool is discretized into several micro-elements along the axis,
and the instantaneous cutting force on the micro element is divided into
tangential force, radial force and axial force [38]. It is noted that the
8
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
Fig. 15. Schematic diagram of tool-fiber angle.
model analyzes the characteristics of cutting force from the perspective
of tool force, in which the anisotropy of CFRP is ignored. The expression
of the milling force model can be expressed as Eq. (3).
⎫
dFt = Ktc ∙hD (∅)∙dz + Kte ∙ds ⎬
dFr = Krc ∙hD (∅)∙dz + Kre ∙ds (3)
⎭
dFa = Kac ∙hD (∅)∙dz + Kae ∙ds
where Kte, Kre and Kae are the tangential, radial, and axial edge force
coefficients, respectively, which are used to characterize the ploughing
and friction effect during milling. Ktc, Krc, and Kac are the tangential,
radial and axial cutting force coefficients, respectively, which are used
to characterize the shear action during milling. The cutting force co­
efficients (K) are considered as constants under the fixed cutting
conditions.
F. Zou et al. Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578

Fig. 16. Material removal and surface generation mechanism when θ = 0◦ .

The schematic diagram of force generation during down milling respectively. The friction coefficient increases and the friction force in­
CFRP is shown in Fig. 11. Three measured components (Fx, Fy, Fz) of creases at low temperature, which is consistent with the results of
milling force can be expressed as a function of milling forces in the tribology test. Under the CMQL condition, the introduction of lubricant
tangential (Ft), radial direction (Fr), and axial direction (Fa) [39]. leads to the decrease of friction coefficient and friction force. For the
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤ cutting force coefficient (Ktc), which mainly implies the shear mecha­
Fx cos∅ sin∅ 0 Ft
nism, change slightly with the cooling environment, and the maximum
⎣ Fy ⎦ = ⎣ − sin∅ cos∅ 0 ⎦⎣ Fr ⎦ (4)
difference is about 14%. This shows that the relationship between the
Fz 0 0 1 Fa
shear of cutting layer and the cooling conditions is not significant. In all,
where Fx is the milling force in the feed direction, Fy is the milling force the influence of cooling and lubrication conditions on cutting force is
in the normal direction, Fz is the milling force in the axial direction and mainly mapped to the friction condition between the cutting tool and
Ф is tool immersion angel. The force coefficients were calculated by the workpiece.
measured milling force based on Eq. (5) [40].
{ }φex ⎫
Nac Na ⎪ 3.5. Surface quality
Fx = [Ktc cos2φ − Krc [2φ − sin2φ] ] − [ − Ktc sinφ + Kre cosφ] ⎪
⎪
8π 2π ⎪
φst ⎪
⎪
{ }φex ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎬ The machined surface quality of CFRP mainly depends on the
Fy =
Nac
[Ktc (2φ − sin2φ) − Krc cos2φ ] −
Na
[Kte cosφ + Kre sinφ] machining conditions and the inherent material properties. The 3D
8π 2π φst
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ average surface roughness (Sa) was usually used to evaluate the surface
⎪
φex
⎪
⎪
⎪ quality. The recommended surface roughness for CFRP laminates is
Na ⎪
Fz = [− Kac ccosφ + Kae φ] ⎭ usually less than 3.2 μm in the aerospace industry [41]. Fig. 13 shows
2π
the typical surface and edge topography under different cutting envi­
φst

(5)
where, φex represents the tool cut-out angle, φst represents the tool cut-in
angle, for down milling, a represents axial depth of cut, c represents feed
of cut, N represents the number of teeth.
Fig. 12 shows the edge and cutting force coefficients under the ar­
ranged cooling conditions. For the edge force coefficient, no matter what
the cutting conditions are, Kre is always much larger than Kte and Kae.
This shows that the rebounding phenomenon is serious in CFRP milling,
and friction and ploughing occupy an important part of the cutting force.
Compared with dry cutting condition, Kre increased by 54.19% and
decreased by 60.12% at cryogenic condition and CMQL condition,
ronments. The depth of surface groove under dry environment is obvi­
ously deeper than that in cryogenic and CMQL environments. The
grooves appear in the same layer of tool-fiber angle, while the other
layers are flat. This phenomenon is related to the material removal
mechanism. It can be seen that the roughness of different layer with
different tool-fiber angles is obviously different. The surface roughness
of the area including all layers is calculated to more reasonably char­
acterize the surface quality under different lubri-cooling conditions.
Surface defects such as delamination and tearing occurred under dry
cutting while micro-burrs appeared on the edge under cryogenic cutting.
The edge produced in CMQL condition is short of surface defects.
Fig. 14 shows the variation of surface roughness as a function of

9
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 17. Material removal and surface generation mechanism when θ = 45◦ .
cutting parameters under different cooling conditions. It can be clearly
noted that the machined surface in CMQL condition shows the lowest
surface roughness, and it presents the highest magnitude in dry cutting
condition. The improvement of surface quality can be attributed to the
desirable breakability of CFRP at low temperature and the absence of
ploughing effect with lubrication. As far as the effect of cutting param­
eters is concerned, the trend is the same in different cutting conditions.
With the increase of feed and rotation speed, the surface roughness
shows an uptrend and a certain downtrend, respectively. Besides, the
feed rate seems to have a more dominant effect on surface generation.
3.6. Material removal and surface generation mechanism
When it comes to the material removal and surface generation
mechanism of CFRP, the tool-fiber angle is considered to be an essential
factor that needs to be considered. As shown in Fig. 15, the angle be­
tween the fiber orientation and the cutting direction is defined as the
tool-fiber angle (θ), which dominates the corresponding material
removal process. The material removal mechanisms are mainly attrib­
uted to the fracture of carbon fibers and the fiber–matrix debonding
[42].
Fig. 16 presents the material removal and surface generation
mechanism of CFRP under different cooling conditions with the same
cutting parameter (v = 100 m/min, f = 0.1 mm/rev). When the tool
fiber-angle is 0◦ , the material removal mechanism is interlaminar shear
fracture under dry and cryogenic conditions. The reason is that the high
cutting temperature leads to the softening of the matrix, so that the
fracture occurs at the fiber–matrix interface with low strength. It is
10
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
noted that due to the high temperature during cutting, there are a lot of
debris sticking to the surface under dry cutting environment. Under
CMQL environment, the strength of fiber–matrix interface and the
breakability of carbon fiber are improved with the enhancement of the
cooling effect. The improvement leads to the micro-brittle fractures
rather than fiber–matrix debonding [43,44]. This type of material
removal makes the surface roughness decrease greatly. Since it is usually
difficult to reduce the cutting temperature, this phenomenon of micro-
brittle fracture has been less observed in existing studies.
Fig. 17 shows the material removal and surface generation mecha­
nism of CFRP under different cooling conditions when θ = 45◦ . Under all
cooling conditions, the fractures of fibers are mainly oblique fractures
produced by extrusion fracture, accompanied by a small amount of shear
fractures. The resin is smeared on the machined surface during dry
cutting owing to the effect of ploughing and friction.
Fig. 18 shows the material removal and surface generation mecha­
nism of CFRP under different cooling conditions when θ = 90◦ . It can be
seen that the machined surface is mainly composed of neat fiber trans­
verse fractures, and the machined surface is relative flat. Under various
cooling conditions, the shear fracture of carbon fiber is the main mate­
rial removal mode. Meanwhile, the surfaces produced under different
cooling conditions indicate disparate characteristics. The surface pro­
duced by dry cutting has serious resin smearing, and the fiber fracture is
almost invisible. On the surface produced by cryogenic cutting, the resin
is ploughed by the flank face under the action of large cutting force, and
there is a slight resin smearing phenomenon. Under CMQL cutting
environment, the milling temperature is greatly reduced, and the fric­
tion between the flank face and the machined surface is reduced.
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 18. Material removal and surface generation mechanism when θ = 90◦ .
Fig. 19 shows the material removal and surface generation mecha­
nism of CFRP under different cooling conditions when θ = 135◦ . Fiber-
matrix debonding and bending-induced fiber fractures are the main
material removal mode. Cavities are caused by fiber–matrix debonding
followed by bending-induced fiber fractures and shear-induced fiber
fractures [7]. This is because it is easy to conduct cracks and tears to the
workpiece during the bending and breaking process of carbon fiber.
Under dry cutting conditions, the high cutting temperature causes the
resin matrix to soften, resulting in a decrease in matrix/fiber interface
strength. Meanwhile, under the action of high cutting force, a large
number of cavities are formed on the surface and a large number of
fiber/matrix debris occurs. Under cryogenic conditions, the cutting
temperature drops, resulting in a reduction in the number and depth of
cavities. Under CMQL conditions, the cutting temperature is further
reduced, leading to effective control of the cavities.
In brief, the effects of cooling conditions on the material removal and
surface generation mechanism can be attributed to: (i) The decrease of
cutting temperature avoids the thermal softening of resin matrix, lead­
ing to strength improvement of fiber–matrix interface. (ii) The break­
ability of carbon fiber improves under cryogenic environment. (iii)
When the lubricant is presented, the friction between the flank face and
the machined surface is reduced.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, a variety of milling experiments of CFRP laminates
under eco-friendly lubri-cooling conditions were carried out. The evo­
lution of cutting forces, cutting temperatures, surface roughness and
surface morphologies under dry cutting and cryogenic-based conditions
11
Composite Structures 277 (2021) 114578
were studied. Based on the obtained findings, the main conclusions are
as follows:
• CMQL condition shows the excellent potential in CFRP machining,
which can obtain lower cutting temperature, lower cutting force,
lower surface roughness and higher machining efficiency.
• Compared with dry cutting, cryogenic cutting greatly reduces the
cutting temperature while greatly increases the cutting force due to
the increase of the friction coefficient. Consequently, thermal dam­
age is avoided and the surface quality is improved compared to the
dry cutting environment.
• In all cutting environments, the variation of cutting force and cutting
temperature with cutting parameters is similar. With the increase of
feed rate, the cutting force increases significantly while the cutting
temperature slightly changes. With the increase of cutting speed, the
cutting force slightly changes while the cutting temperature greatly
increases. It is note the effect of feed rate on cutting temperature is
higher than cutting speed in CMQL, while the opposite is true in dry
and scCO2.
• The mechanism of material removal is significantly different under
different tool-fiber angles, which leads to different roughness of
different layers. The surface roughness of all layers is calculated,
which can more reasonably characterize the surface quality under
different lubri-cooling conditions.
• The influence of lubri-cooling conditions on the material removal
and surface generation can be attributed to on the one hand the
absence of performance degradation of carbon fiber and resin matrix
and on the other hand, the reduction of friction coefficient between
the flank face of cutting tool and the machined surface.
F. Zou et al.
Fig. 19. Material removal and surface generation mechanism when θ = 135◦ .
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Fan Zou: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal
analysis, Writing - original draft. Jiaqiang Dang: Investigation, Writing
- review & editing. Xianfeng Wang: Formal analysis. Hongzhou
Zhang: Data curation, Project administration. Xiaofeng Sun: Supervi­
sion. Qinglong An: Investigation, Funding acquisition. Ming Chen:
Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by Shanghai industrial foundation
strengthening project (GYQJ-2019-1-31) and National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51975368).
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