Product category:
Cutting lubricants, coolants, systems and treatment
News Release from: Castrol UK | Subject: Hysol MG water soluble cutting fluid
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 April 2003
Fluid formulated for machining magnesium
Water soluble cutting fluid is specially formulated for machining magnesium alloys and prevents the magnesium from breaking down the mixed fluid during machining.
Castrol customer FR-Hitemp of South Molton in Devon is a member of the Flight Refuelling Group, a world leader in air-to-air refuelling and the supply of fuel system components to commercial aircraft manufacturers The company's machine shop is equipped with over 50 CNC machines including a number of CNC turning centres, 2-axis lathes, 4- and 5-axis mills and general machines such as grinders and centre lathes
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Six months ago FR-Hitemp became involved in the development of a specialised component that needed to be machined from magnesium, a metal with which the machine shop had limited experience.
When the project began production engineer Steve Symons faced three seemingly insurmountable problems.
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Firstly, wet machining wasn't thought viable because neat oils were considered messy and unsuitable for use with other materials, and conventional water-soluble cutting fluids react with magnesium making machining difficult.
Second, dry machining, which had seemed to be the only viable option, generates a lot of heat and can cause deformation of the work piece.
It can also cause fires due to high stock removals and resulting high temperatures And finally, nine magnesium components in the initial batch were to be machined in the Rapid Response cell on a 5-axis mill and a lathe, both of which were also used to manufacture components in aluminium and stainless steel.
This either meant using the two machines exclusively for small-scale magnesium production runs, or cleaning them down every time magnesium was machined.
Fortunately, a call to Castrol Regional Sales Manager James Bayliss by Gerry Benning team leader of the Rapid Response cell produced a single solution to all three problems - Castrol Hysol MG.
Says James: "Hysol MG is a water soluble cutting fluid specially formulated for machining magnesium alloys.
Whilst it is used in the same way as conventional fluids, its unique chemistry prevents the magnesium from breaking down the mixed fluid during machining." He adds that for FR-Hitemp there is the added bonus that it can also be used to machine stainless steel and aluminium, so the machines don't need to be interrupted and productivity isn't affected.
Prior to starting magnesium machining the mill and lathe were cleaned and refilled with Hysol MG.
After six months Steve reports that the results are excellent, there has been no splitting of the emulsion and the potential for fire in the machines has been greatly reduced.
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