SBIR Phase II: Minimum Quantity Lubrication Delivered by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide for Forming Applications

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在开发下一代超临界CO2金属加工液(MWF)技术，用于要求苛刻的金属成形应用。其方法是使用超临界二氧化碳提供专门的环保润滑剂，实现工具磨损率、作用力和表面光洁度至少与目前使用的水基MWF一样好。预计这项技术所需的MWF数量将少得多。将研究新的超临界MWFS的配方和金属加工过程中油和二氧化碳流量的优化。获得专利的超临界二氧化碳系统(所谓的芯片润滑剂)将在实际工业环境中进行评估，以确认其取代当前MWFS的能力。芯片润滑剂系统的有效性和有效性也将被规模化，并应用于其他常见的工业金属加工过程，如轧制、挤压和切割。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是提供一种环境友好的润滑剂系统，作为传统MWF的替代品，具有同等或更好的性能和更低的成本。在任何给定的时间，美国都在使用大约20亿加仑的MWFS。这意味着必须处理和修复大量的废物。此外，MWFS对工人健康和安全的负面影响是有据可查的。芯片润滑剂的成分是天然存在的，使用量极低。因此，废物处理和工人的健康问题被降到最低。切屑润滑油已在简单的金属去除应用中得到证明，与传统的MWF相比，它提供了更低的刀具磨损和/或更高的加工速度，从而导致更低的总体制造成本。此外，运行该过程不会产生二氧化碳，因为该过程中使用的二氧化碳将从氨和乙醇生产等其他工业过程中回收。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop next-generation supercritical CO2 metalworking fluid (MWF) technology for highly demanding metal forming applications. The approach is to deliver specialized environmentally-friendly lubricants with supercritical CO2, achieving tool wear rates, forces, and surface finish at least as good as aqueous-based MWFs that are currently in use. It is anticipated that a much smaller amount of MWFs will be required with this technology. The formulation of new supercritical MWFs and the optimization of flowrates of oil and CO2 for metalworking processes will be studied. The patented supercritical CO2 system (so-called CHiP Lube) will be evaluated in real industrial settings to confirm its capability to replace current MWFs. The effectiveness and efficacy of CHiP Lube system will also be scaled and applied to other common industrial metal working processes such as rolling, extruding, and cutting.The broader/commercial impacts of this project will be the potential to provide an environmentally-benign lubricant system as an alternative to conventional MWFs with equal or better performance and lower cost. At any given time, approximately 2 billion gallons of MWFs are in use in the U.S.A. This represents a massive waste stream that must be treated and remediated. Plus, the negative effects of MWFs on worker health and safety are well documented. The components of CHiP Lube are naturally occurring and used in extremely low quantities. Therefore, the waste treatment and worker health concerns are minimized. CHiP Lube has been demonstrated in simple metal removal applications as providing lower tool wear and/or higher machining speeds than conventional MWFs, thereby leading to a lower overall cost of manufacturing. In addition, no carbon dioxide will be produced to run the process, as the CO2 used in the process will be recovered from other industrial processes such as ammonia and ethanol production.