Ideko leads minimum coolant grinding project

The project, titled CAMEL-MCG "High Efficiency and Environmentally Friendly Grinding based on Minimum Coolant technology", is developing a new Minimum Coolant Grinding (MCG) approach to replace MQL, used to date, which although very successful for cutting processes involving spray or mist application of cooling fluid to the cutting edge (in operations such as drilling, turning or milling), is inefficient for grinding processes, on account of grinding wheel composition. MCG technology is a lubrication and coolant method based on freezing oil inside grinding wheel pores then machining with this frozen oil in place. The frozen oil, trapped in the labyrinth of grinding wheel pores, finds it difficult to exit despite the centrifugal force it is subjected to. The heat generated by the grinding process liquefies the oil on contact with the material thereby lubricating it throughout the cutting area. This technique makes it possible to access the entire contact area during grinding, something that apart from very extreme and isolated cases was not possible using MQL methods. MCG technology has been patented by Ideko-IK4.