Performance evaluation of minimum quantity lubrication by vegetable oil in terms of cutting force, cutting zone temperature, tool wear, job dimension and surface finish in turning AISI-1060 steel

In all machining processes, tool wear is a natural phenomenon and it leads to tool failure. 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. Metal cutting fluid changes the performance of machining operations because of their lubrication, cooling and chip flushing functions, but the use of cutting fluid has become more problematic in terms of both employee health and environmental pollution. The minimization of cutting fluid also leads to economical benefits by way of saving lubricant costs and workpiece/tool/machine cleaning cycle time. The concept of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) has been suggested since a decade ago as a means of addressing the issues of environmental intrusiveness and occupational hazards associated with the airborne cutting fluid particles on factory shop floors. This paper deals with experimental investigation on the role of MQL by vegetable oil on cutting temperature, tool wear, surface roughness and dimensional deviation in turning AISI-1060 steel at industrial speed-feed combinations by uncoated carbide insert. The encouraging results include significant reduction in tool wear rate, dimensional inaccuracy and surface roughness by MQL mainly through reduction in the cutting zone temperature and favorable change in the chip-tool and work-tool interaction.