In the process chains dedicated to the manufacturing
of surgical implants, like hip or knee replacements,
machining operations are carried out after the hot
forging process to obtain geometrical features
characterized by specific geometrical tolerances and
surface peculiarities. In general, the forming process
allows obtaining near-net shape components, which,
afterwards, are subjected to semi-finishing turning
and/or milling operations whose effects on the surface
integrity of the final products cannot be neglected. In the
biomedical field, machining operations are currently
conducted adopting traditional mineral or natural
lubricating solutions, requiring costly cleaning and
sterilization steps. Furthermore, recent studies have
proved that cutting fluids have an economical impact as
high as 17% of the total manufacturing costs [1].
Therefore, alternative lubricating strategies, such as
Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) , cryogenic and
dry machining [2], are gaining more and more interest
for permitting the overall decrease of the manufacturing
costs of surgical implants. Besides the influence on the
tool wear, these alternative lubrication strategies are
recognized to strongly affect the machined part surface
integrity. Several works have been carried out to
investigate the surface integrity of Nickel and Titaniumbased superalloys under different lubricating strategies
[3]. As an example, in [4], it was found that adopting a
cutting speed of 60m/min in dry turning of Inconel 718,
resulted in comparable results in terms of residual
stresses and surface roughness with wet turning. Zhou et.
al [5] found that the application of a 5% semi-synthetic
emulsion reduced surface damages of Inconel 718 under
high speed turning conditions with ceramic tools. In
literature, no exhaustive works can be found concerning
the study of the effects machining processes on the
surface integrity of CoCrMo alloys, commonly used in
the biomedical field, especially under dry lubricating