An experimental investigation on effect of minimum quantity lubrication in machining AISI 1040 steel

The growing demands for high productivity of machining need use of high cutting velocity and feed rate. Such machining inherently produces high cutting temperature, which not only reduces tool life but also impairs the product quality. Application of cutting fluids changes the performance of machining operations because of their lubrication, cooling, and chip flushing functions. But the conventional cutting fluids are not that effective in such high production machining, particularly in continuous cutting of materials likes steels. Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) presents itself as a viable alternative for turning with respect to tool wear, heat dissipation, and machined surface quality. This study compares the mechanical performance of MQL to completely dry lubrication for the turning of AISI-1040 steel based on experimental measurement of cutting temperature, chip reduction coefficient, cutting forces, tool wears, surface finish, and dimensional deviation. Results indicated that the use of near dry lubrication leads to lower cutting temperature and cutting force, favorable chip-tool interaction, reduced tool wears, surface roughness, and dimensional deviation. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.