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In this work, a novel strategy is introduced for the removal of cutting fluid mist from machining environments. This strategy, based on a kinematic coagulation mechanism, utilizes large fluid droplets to capture small airborne fluid particles. A specially designed atomizer system is used to create the large fluid droplets. The performance of the atomizer system is reported in terms of the size of droplets produced for various combinations of the operating parameters. Designed experiments are conducted in conjunction with a turning process to assess the efficacy of the kinematic coagulation mechanism in removing airborne cutting fluid mist. For the process conditions examined, the addition of large fluid droplets is shown to have a significant effect on reducing the mass concentration of airborne mist particulate within the working environment.

In terms of manufacturing processes and systems, decision-makers may encounter difficulty in making environmentally friendly choices. This difficulty arises largely because of the nascency of environmentally responsible manufacturing. There is a sparsity of environmental information on processes and a variety of seemingly unconnected tools, methods, concepts, etc. To help decisions-makers understand the nature of a process and identify the appropriate tools/methods that may be most suited to reducing environmental impact, a classification system for manufacturing processes is established. Methods and tools for environmentally responsible manufacturing are then identified for each class. Two examples are presented to show how the new classification system may be applied in environmentally responsible manufacturing.

The drive of Design for the Environment is to reduce the environmental impact of both design and manufacturing processes. The most frequent method recommended is to substitute better materials and processes. However, there are processes that will continue to have undesirable environmental impacts due to the lack of knowledge of better methods. These processes are critical to manufacturing of products and can not be eliminated. All possible substitutions appear to have worse impacts. This paper explores modeling these processes and imposing a control method which permits an improvement of the environmental impact.

This paper describes the University of Illinois machining system research program. This program focuses on the development of mechanistic models for machining process simulation and the use of these models for the simultaneous engineering of products and processes. Models are presented for end milling, face milling, and cylinder boring which take into account the cutting conditions, tool geometry, workpiece geometry, and system element dynamics. Furthermore, these models explicitly recognize the presence of machining process noise factors such as cutter runout and tool wear. Representative applications for these models are given. A methodology is described for the simultaneous engineering of products and manufacturing processes which incorporates models for the unit manufacturing processes, the manufacturing system, and the product to be produced.