An Approach to Quantifying the Lifecycle Sustainability Impacts of Tungsten Carbide Tools

Tungsten carbide cutting tools are widely used for their high machining performance and low cost. However, their cost does not currently reflect the material rarity, environmental costs, nor societal costs associated with their production. Critically, embodied energy makes a sizeable contribution to the total lifecycle energy consumption. This study quantifies the true triple bottom line cost of the tools with respect to established sustainability metrics by leveraging cross-disciplinary insights from the product, process, and system levels. Based on the adjusted cost, a comparative analysis of the cutting tool sustainability on the profitability of a nickel-based superalloy machining process was carried out for different tools. Tool wear rates were experimentally measured across a range of industrial feeds and speeds for milling of Inconel 718. Using a Taylorian cost optimization model, the relative influence of the true cost of different tungsten carbide tools was compared. In all cases considered, changes in tool cost had a minimal impact on process profitability, suggesting that more sustainably produced cutting tools may readily justify increased tooling costs. Thus, identification and further development of more sustainable cutting tools may offer a meaningful opportunity to enhance sustainability performance of tungsten carbide cutting tools enabling more sustainable manufacturing.