Nonconventional or advanced machining processes such as electric discharge machining, electrochemical machining, abrasive water jet machining, and laser beam machining have been widely used as a viable alternate to the conventional processes to manufacture high-quality engineered parts having certain typical features. In spite of their special features, wider acceptance, and use, they suffer from certain inherent limitations with regard to sustainability such as high consumption of energy and resources; generation of toxic liquid, gases, and solid wastes; risk for health and safety; air pollution; generation of waste and its disposal problems; and workpiece contamination and thermal damage to the parts being produced. It is found that these factors all adversely affect the environment to a certain extent. Innovative sustainable techniques such as dry, near-dry, and green electric discharge machining; green and hybrid electrochemical machining; ice-jet machining; and eco- and underwater laser beam machining, etc. have been developed to address sustainability challenges and greatly benefited with improvements in quality, productivity, and sustainability. This review article first introduces four major nonconventional machining processes, discusses their inherent sustainability issues and challenges, and presents state-of-the-art review of the work conducted using sustainable innovative techniques and strategies with an aim to encourage academics, researchers, and engineers for research and developments in order to establish the field further. The literature review offered in this article is based on over 80 articles published from 1975 to 2017. Finally, the article ends up with concluding remarks and recommending possible avenues to stimulate future research.
UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Develepment Organization. Manual on the development of sustainable production policies, approaches and instruments. Guidelines for National Sustainable Production Centres and Programmes. Unido CP Programme, Vienna, 2002.
2.
UNIDO, UNEP. Guidance manual: how to establish and operate sustainable production centers, Vienna: UNIDO, 2011.
3.
AhnS-HChunD-MChuW-S. Perspective to green manufacturing and applications. Int J Precis Eng Manuf2013; 14: 873–874.
4.
DornfeldD. Green manufacturing: fundamentals and applications, New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
5.
HechtJ. Short history of laser development. Opt Eng2010; 49: 91002.
Hofy-FI H and Youssef H. Environmental hazards of nontraditional machining. In: Proceedings of 4th IASME / WSEAS international conference on energy and environment, 2009, pp.140–145. Cambridge (UK).
8.
GamageJRDe SilvaAKM. Assessment of research needs for sustainability of unconventional machining processes. Procedia CIRP2015; 26: 385–390.
ValakiJBRathodPPKhatriBC. Environmental impact, personnel health and operational safety aspects of electric discharge machining: a review. Proc IMechE, Part B: J Engineering Manufacture2015; 229: 1481–1491.
11.
KruusingA. Underwater and water-assisted laser processing: Part 1—general features, steam cleaning and shock processing. Opt Lasers Eng2004; 41: 307–327.
12.
Behera RR and Sankar MR. State of the art on under liquid laser beam machining. In: Materials today: proceedings, 2015, pp.1731–1740.
13.
RajurkarKPHadidiHParitiJet al.Review of sustainability issues in non-traditional machining processes. Procedia Manuf2016; 7: 714–720.
14.
KruusingA. Underwater and water-assisted laser processing: Part 2 - etching, cutting and rarely used methods. Opt Lasers Eng2004; 41: 329–352.
15.
GuptaKJainNKLaubscherRF. Spark erosion machining of miniature gears-a critical review. Int J Adv Manuf Technol2015; 80: 1863–1877.
16.
RajurkarKPSundaramMMMalsheAP. Review of electrochemical and electrodischarge machining. Procedia CIRP2013; 6: 13–26.
17.
Bommeli B. Study of the harmful emanations resulting from the machining by electro-erosion. In: Proceedings of the seventh international symposium on electromachining (ISEM VII), 1983, pp.469–478. Cambridge (UK).
18.
ChakrabortySDeyVGhoshSK. A review on the use of dielectric fluids and their effects in electrical discharge machining characteristics. Precis Eng2015; 40: 1–6.
19.
GamageJRDesilvaAKMHarrisonCet al.Ascertaining life cycle inventory data for electrical discharge machining. Procedia CIRP2016; 41: 908–913.
20.
Dhakar K and Dvivedi A. Experimental investigation on near-dry EDM using glycerin-air mixture as dielectric medium. In: Materials today: proceedings, 2016, pp.5344–5350.
21.
FattahiSBaseriH. Analysis of dry electrical discharge machining in different dielectric mediums. Proc IMechE, Part E: Process Mechanical Engineering2017; 23(3): 497–512.
DhakarKDvivediA. Parametric evaluation on near-dry electric discharge machining. Mater Manuf Process2016; 31: 413–421.
26.
KaoCCTaoJShihAJ. Near dry electrical discharge machining. Int J Mach Tools Manuf2007; 47: 2273–2281.
27.
TaoJShihAJNiJ. Experimental study of the dry and near-dry electrical discharge milling processes. J Manuf Sci Eng2008; 130: 11002.
28.
Gholipoor A, Baseri H, Shakeri M, et al. Investigation of the effects of magnetic field on near-dry electrical discharge machining performance. Proc IMechE, Part B: J Engineering Manufacture 2017; 230(4): 744–751.
29.
LinY-CHungJ-CChowH-Met al.Machining characteristics of a hybrid process of EDM in gas combined with ultrasonic vibration and AJM. Procedia CIRP2016; 42: 167–172.
30.
ShenYLiuYSunW. High-efficient dry hybrid machining of EDM and arc machining. Procedia CIRP2016; 42: 149–154.
31.
ChenSLYanBHHuangFY. Influence of kerosene and distilled water as dielectrics on the electric discharge machining characteristics of Ti–6A1–4V. J Mater Process Technol1999; 87: 107–111.
32.
MedellinHIde LangeDFMoralesJet al.Experimental study on electrodischarge machining in water of D2 tool steel using two different electrode materials. Proc IMechE, Part B: J Engineering Manufacture2009; 223: 1423–1430.
33.
TangLDuYT. Experimental study on green electrical discharge machining in tap water of Ti–6Al–4V and parameters optimization. Int J Adv Manuf Technol2013; 70: 469–475.
34.
KönigWJörresL. Aqueous solutions of organic compounds as dielectrics for EDM sinking. CIRP Ann - Manuf Technol1987; 36: 105–109.
35.
ValakiJBRathodPP. Assessment of operational feasibility of waste vegetable oil based bio-dielectric fluid for sustainable electric discharge machining (EDM). Int J Adv Manuf Technol2016; 87: 1509–1518.
36.
ValakiJBRathodPPSankhavaraCD. Investigations on technical feasibility of Jatropha curcas oil based bio dielectric fluid for sustainable electric discharge machining (EDM). J Manuf Process2016; 22: 151–160.
37.
Ng PS, Kong SA and Yeo SH. Investigation of biodiesel dielectric in sustainable electrical discharge machining. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2017; 90(9–12): 2549–2556.
38.
KarasawaTKuniedaM. EDM capability with poured dielectric fluids without a tub. Jpn Soc Precis Eng1990; 24: 217–218.
39.
GuptaKJainNKLaubscherRF. Thermal hybrid machining processes. In: Hybrid machining processes, New York: Springer, 2016, pp. 33–43.
40.
JoseMSivapirakasamSPSurianarayananM. Analysis of aerosol emission and hazard evaluation of electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. Ind Health2010; 48: 478–486.
41.
SivapirakasamSPMathewJSurianarayananM. Multi-attribute decision making for green electrical discharge machining. Expert Syst Appl2011; 38: 8370–8374.
42.
GargALamJSL. Modeling multiple-response environmental and manufacturing characteristics of EDM process. J Clean Prod2016; 137: 1588–1601.
43.
MaherISarhanAADBarzaniMMet al.Increasing the productivity of the wire-cut electrical discharge machine associated with sustainable production. J Clean Prod2015; 108: 247–255.
RajurkarKPZhuDMcGeoughJAet al.New developments in electrochemical machining. CIRP Ann Technol1999; 48: 567–579.
46.
FangXQuNZhangYet al.Effects of pulsating electrolyte flow in electrochemical machining. J Mater Process Technol2014; 214: 36–43.
47.
RyuSH. Eco-friendly ECM in citric acid electrolyte with microwire and microfoil electrodes. Int J Precis Eng Manuf2015; 16: 233–239.
48.
GuodongLYongLQuancunKet al.Selection and optimization of electrolyte for micro electrochemical machining on stainless steel 304. Procedia CIRP2016; 42: 412–417.
49.
YangYNatsuWZhaoW. Realization of eco-friendly electrochemical micromachining using mineral water as an electrolyte. Precis Eng2011; 35: 204–213.
50.
Chen X, Qu N and Hou Z. Electrochemical micromachining of micro-dimple arrays on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V with NaNO3 electrolyte. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2017; 88(1–4): 565–574.
51.
GuptaKJainNKLaubscherRF. Electrochemical hybrid machining processes. Hybrid machining processes, New York: Springer, 2016, pp. 9–31.
52.
SekarTArularasuMSathiyamoorthyV. Investigations on the effects of nano-fluid in ECM of die steel. Meas J Int Meas Confed2016; 83: 38–43.
53.
Hashish M. Abrasive waterjet cutting of microelectronic components. In: Proceedings of the 2005 WJTA American waterjet conference, Houston, TX, USA, 2005.
54.
Kantha BabuMKrishnaiah ChettyOV. A study on recycling of abrasives in abrasive water jet machining. Wear2003; 254: 763–773.
55.
Andersson U and Holmqvist G. Strategies for cost— and time-effective use of abrasive waterjet cutting. In: WJTA American waterjet conference, Houston, TX, USA, 21–23 August 2005.
56.
KarpuschewskiBEmmerTSchmidtKet al.Cryogenic wet-ice blasting - process conditions and possibilities. CIRP Ann Manuf Technol2013; 62: 319–322.
57.
SpurGUhlmannEElbingF. Dry-ice blasting for cleaning: process, optimization and application. Wear1999; 233–235: 402–411.
58.
GuptaKAvvariMMashambaAet al.Ice-jet machining – a sustainable variant of abrasive water jet machining, New York: Springer, 2017.
59.
Geskin ES, Shishkin D and Babets K. Application of ice particles for precision cleaning of sensitive surfaces. In: Proceedings of 10th American waterjet conference, 1999. Houston (USA).
60.
ShishkinDVGeskinESGoldenbergB. Application of ice particles for precision cleaning of sensitive surfaces. J Electron Packag2002; 124: 355.
UhlmannESammlerFRicharzSet al.New production technologies in aerospace industry - 5th machining innovations conference (MIC 2014) machining of carbon fibre reinforced plastics. Procedia CIRP2014; 24: 19–24.
63.
McGeoughJA. Cutting of food products by ice-particles in a water-jet. Procedia CIRP2016; 42: 863–865.
64.
SobotovaIL. Use of recycled abrasives to cutting of materials in AWJ. Transf Inovácií2015; 32: 225–227.
65.
DongYLiuWZhangHet al.On-line recycling of abrasives in abrasive water jet cleaning. Procedia CIRP2014; 15: 278–282.
66.
Jagadish BhowmikSRayA. Prediction of surface roughness quality of green abrasive water jet machining: a soft computing approach. J Intell Manuf2015, pp. 1–15. in press doi.org/10.1007/s10845-015-1169-7.
67.
LiuDHuangCWangJet al.Modeling and optimization of operating parameters for abrasive waterjet turning alumina ceramics using response surface methodology combined with Box–Behnken design. Ceramics Int2014; 40: 7899–7908.
KellensKRodriguesGCDewulfWet al.Energy and resource efficiency of laser cutting processes. Phys Procedia2014; 56: 854–864.
70.
RodriguesGCVanhoveHDuflouJR. Direct diode lasers for industrial laser cutting: a performance comparison with conventional fiber and CO2 technologies. Phys Procedia2014; 56: 901–908.
LoktionovEYOvchinnikovAVProtasovYYet al.Energy efficiency of femtosecond laser ablation of refractory metals. J Appl Spectrosc2010; 77: 561–568.
74.
AgeevVA. Study of the light erosion of metals in liquids. Zh Prikl Spektrosk1975; 23: 42–46.
75.
AlahmariAMAhmedNDarwishS. Laser beam micro-machining under water immersion. Int J Adv Manuf Technol2016; 83: 1671–1681.
76.
DarwishSAhmedNAlahmariAMet al.A comparison of laser beam machining of micro-channels under dry and wet mediums. Int J Adv Manuf Technol2016; 83: 1539–1555.
77.
WuttisarnTTangwarodomnukunVDumkumC. Laser micro-milling under a thin and flowing water layer: a new concept of liquid-assisted laser machining process. Proc IMechE, Part B: J Engineering Manufacture2016; 230(2): 376–380.
78.
TangwarodomnukunV. Overflow-assisted laser machining of titanium alloy: surface characteristics and temperature field modeling. Int J Adv Manuf Technol2017; 88: 147–158.
79.
MullickSMadhukarYKRoySet al.Development and parametric study of a water-jet assisted underwater laser cutting process. Int J Mach Tools Manuf2013; 68: 48–55.
80.
YanYLiLSezerKet al.CO2 laser underwater machining of deep cavities in alumina. J Eur Ceram Soc2011; 31: 2793–2807.
