Design and study of a novel thermoelectric tool cooling system for turning applications

Abstract Tool cooling is an essential process in machining which is usually carried out using cutting fluids with different application strategies. Thermoelectric effect can be considered as the confined manipulation of organic principles such as the conversion of heat energy to electrical energy and vice-versa in various configurations, depending on the entity applied. The stream of manufacturing is fastly moving towards sustainability, stressing the requirement of an innovative cooling system that would not provoke undesirable consequences while being disposed of. The attempts of rectifying this chronic issue in manufacturing has produced apparently feasible solutions such as Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) and Cold-air cooling (CAC) that have produced surface characteristics in workpieces similar to those while using conventional tool cooling techniques. The current work is based on the experimental investigation of the performance of a newly designed compact thermoelectric cooling system in improving the machinability of a superalloy specimen under different machining conditions.