Experimental Investigation of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) as a Sustainable Cooling Technique

Abstract

The use of mineral based cutting fluid in machining process induces negative effects especially to the environment, operator's health and the machining cost itself. In sustainable machining concept, the introduction of coolant techniques such as near-dry machining so called minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and cryogenic coolant have shown promising performances especially in terms of cutting tool life. Nowadays, MQL is widely used in machining performances. This paper attempts to show the experimental results of using MQL based synthetic ester as the cutting fluid. Experimental investigations were carried out using orthogonal cutting process in which the efficiency of MQL technique was compared to dry technique with respect to cutting temperature, cutting force, tool-chip contact length and chip thickness. The experimental results showed that the application of MQL based synthetic ester as the cutting fluid was more efficient for the machining process as it reduced the cutting temperature, cutting force, tool-chip contact length and produced better chip thickness compared to dry machining technique.