Milling surface roughness for 7050 aluminum alloy cavity influenced by nozzle position of nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication

In nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (NMQL) milling of aviation aluminum alloy, it is the bottleneck problem to adjust the position parameters (target distance, incidence angle, and elevation angle) of the nozzle to improve the surface roughness of milling, which has large and uncontrollable errors. In this paper, the influence law of milling cutter speed, helical angle, and cavity shape on the flow field around the milling cutter was studied, and the optimal nozzle profile parameters were obtained. Using 7050 aluminum alloy as the workpiece material, the milling experiment of the NMQL cavity was conducted by utilizing cottonseed oil-based Al2O3 nanofluid. Results show that the high velocity of the surrounding air flow field and the strong gas barrier could be attributed to high rotating velocities of the milling cutter. The incidence angle of the nozzle was consistent with the helical angle of the milling cutter, the target distance was appropriate at 25–30 mm, and the elevation angle was suitable at 60°–65°. The range and variance analyses of the signal-to-noise ratio of milling force and roughness were performed, and the chip morphology was observed and analyzed. The results show that the optimal combination of nozzle position parameters was the target distance of 30 mm, the incidence angle of 35°, and the elevation angle of 60°. Among these parameters, target distance had the largest impact on cutting performance with a contribution rate of more than 55%, followed by incidence angle and elevation contribution rate. Analysis by orthogonal experiment revealed that the nozzle position parameters were appropriate, and Ra (0.087 μm) was reduced by 30.4% from the maximum value (0.125 μm). Moreover, Rsm (0.05 mm) was minimum, which was 36% lower than that of the seventh group (Rsm = 0.078 mm).