Effects of cutting fluids with nano-silver and borax additives on milling performance of aluminium alloys

Abstract

The development of tribological properties of cutting fluids is important to ensure cutting efficiency in metal cutting processes. It is expected that the nano-cutting fluids obtained using nanoparticles as a tribological agent will provide high tribological performance. In this study, the suspension of borax - ethylene glycol and colloidal suspension of borax - ethylene glycol – nano-silver particles were used as cutting fluid for milling of AA7075 - T6 material and their tribological properties were investigated. The originality of this paper is the improvement of the lubrication function and heat transfer properties of cutting fluids by using borax and nano-silver additives. In the experimental part of the current study, borax was used for lubrication, and nano-silver particles were employed to improve the heat transfer properties of nano-cutting fluids. Both additives were synthesised using ethylene glycol which has high penetration ability. The prepared cutting fluids were applied to the cutting zone in pulverised form by minimum quantity of lubricant (MQL) technique due to the lower environmental and health impacts. In the experimental section, surface roughness values and cutting forces were measured and analysed according to the response surface method (RSM). Besides, chip morphologies were examined in microscale using SEM and EDX, and the effects of additives were discussed in detail. As a result, it was determined that the silver nano-particle additive reduced the surface roughness up to 13.88 %. However, any sufficient effect reducing the cutting forces was not observed.