A study on influence of vegetable oils in milling operation and it's role as lubricant

Vegetable oils have gained more focus as an industrial fluid in the past three decades. Based on their performance the application of these fluids has been categorized into either lubricant or coolant. The influence of these vegetable oils is very crucial for industrial applications. In the light of above, an attempt has been made to investigate vegetable oils as a lubricant in machining operation. In this investigation, groundnut oil and soybean oil have been studied for their performance. The testing materials have been chosen as aluminum alloy (Al-alloy) and mild steel. The influence of the above mentioned vegetable oils, on both materials during milling operation has been investigated. The Al-alloy and mild steel have been subjected to milling operation with vegetable oils as a coolant. The influence of these vegetable oils is investigated for surface roughness, surface hardness and cutting forces involved, in the operation. The cutting force required to machine a metal to achieve improved surface finish is more in lubricating condition when compared to dry condition. Studies are also extended to characterize the surfaces through optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results are discussed in detail to ascertain vegetable oils as lubricants. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Developments in Materials, Manufacturing and Energy Engineering.