ORIGINAL ARTICLE Machinability study of recycled aluminum cans and machining chips J. B. Mandatsy Moungomo 1 & D. Nganga-Kouya 1 & V. Songmene 2 & J. Kouam 2 & J. P. Kenné 2 Received: 30 October 2015 /Accepted: 29 February 2016 # Springer-Verlag London 2016 Abstract More and more, the recycling and recovery of many materials are becoming economically and ecologically viable. This is particularly true of aluminum alloys. While the mechanical properties and the field performance of recycled alloys are increasingly well documented, the same cannot be said of their machinability. This article presents the results of a comparative experimental study on the machinability of two recycled foundry aluminum alloys: one from aluminum can covers and another from chips produced during machining. A full factorial design of experiments was used to study the influence of lubrication and machining parameters on surface roughness (Ra and Rt) and chip morphology when turning the two recycled aluminum alloys. The results were analyzed using Pareto analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA), after which roughness prediction models were proposed. The results show a clear differ- ence in the machinability of the two alloys, suggesting the need for a separation of the aluminum alloys used during recovery. Keywords Recycled aluminum . Machinability . Lubrication . Surface roughness . Statistical methods . Chip morphology 1 Introduction Technological developments and sustainability have pushed industries towards innovation in creating and manufacturing new products with recycled materials. In order to reduce ma- chines mass, protect the environment, reduce the energy re- quired to manufacture parts, and reduce production costs, we must inevitably consider using mechanical parts made with recycled aluminum alloys. To that end, it is necessary to have data on the machining performance and machinability of these recomposed materials in order to shape them accurately and economically. The main goal of this article is to study the behavior of two recycled aluminum alloys during dry and wet machining. Most industries, including those of the automotive sectors, are already using recycled aluminum parts: aluminum usage in automotive cover, semi-finished products and castings made of primary production aluminum, and recycled alumi- num or a mix of the two types (Fig. 1). According to Ducker Worldwide [2], the use of aluminum in light vehicles in 2009 was as follows: 118 kg in Japan, 148 kg in North America, and 124 kg in European economic Union, including Russia. A great majority of these components were made using powder metallurgy, sand and squeeze castings, and high pressure die casting processes. The use of recycled aluminum alloys contributes to the reduction of manufacturing costs, and the quality of recycled parts can be improved using methods such as those suggested * V. Songmene victor.songmene@etsmtl.ca J. B. Mandatsy Moungomo jeanbricemandatsy@gmail.com 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Normale Supérieure de l’Enseignement Technique (ENSET), Université Omar Bongo, BP 3989 Boulevard Léon Mba, Libreville, Gabon 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Université du Québec, Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada Int J Adv Manuf Technol DOI 10.1007/s00170-016-8564-x