Virgin and emulsified vegetable oil on the turning of titanium alloy

Abstract

Various detrimental effects of petroleum-based lubricants have encouraged the use of vegetable oil as a replacement due to its better lubricity and environmental friendliness. This study evaluated the performance of virgin and emulsified vegetable oil as cutting fluid for the turning of titanium alloy with ceramic inserts. The performance was determined using signal to noise (S/N) ratio with few input parameters such as lubricant type, cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut. Palm oil and coconut oil were used as the vegetable oil. The virgin oil was mixed with a portion of water to produce emulsified oil. The machining operation applied minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) throughout the experiment. The performance of each type of oil was evaluated in terms of S/N ratio for cutting temperature, and chip reduction coefficient, and percentage of cutting tool wear in order to obtain the best cutting condition. Results showed that the virgin palm oil had better performance on the cutting temperature, tool wear, and chip reduction coefficient. Furthermore, the virgin coconut produced better performance compared to emulsified coconut oil. Hence, it is concluded that virgin vegetable oils perform better as cutting fluid compared to emulsified vegetable oil.