Modeling of Energy Consumptionin Milling Process to Assess their Environmental Impact

Abstract: This thesis presents a method for modeling energy consumption in the milling process to assess their environmental impact, using a simple experimental approach. The factors influencing the environmental impact in milling processes are analyzed with life cycle assessment principles, and their climate change impact is calculated with examples of dry milling experiments. The model for predicting energy consumption is inspired by the mechanistic model of milling operation. The tangential cutting force coefficients are approximated using experimental data to estimate the spindle power. The developed model can predict energy consumption for given cutting parameters and conditions. The results of the study indicate that 1) the energy consumption of the milling process estimated by the proposed mechanistic-based model aligns well with the experimentally measured results, 2) the experimental approach used to build the model is both easy and fast, and 3) the consumption of the solid cutting tool contributes the most to the environmental impact in dry milling processes. Furthermore, the analysis presented in this thesis provides insight into how to improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of milling processes.