Surface grinding is one of the versatile processes in manufacturing, performed to achieve a smooth finish and close tolerance. The process is associated with high temperatures which influence the workpiece surface integrity, surface finish, and dimensional delicacy because of complex thermal stresses and thermal deformation of the workpiece. The usage of a cutting fluid becomes inevitable to address these problems.Cashew nut shell oil is a non-edible vegetable oil that is eco-friendly and possesses some potential properties required for cutting fluid. In this study, cashew nut shell oil is tried as a cutting fluid and its performance is compared with the traditional synthetic cutting fluid in surface grinding of EN8 material. The cutting parameters with two levels considered are the type of cutting fluid, grinding wheel speed, grinding wheel grade, depth of cut, and workpiece speed with the surface roughness or finish as the output response. The design of experiments has been carried out using the factorial method to analyze the effects of factors on the response. Parameter optimization has been done to get the optimum cutting parameters for minimum surface roughness. A model for predicting surface roughness has been proposed and the optimum cutting parameters for minimum surface roughness have been obtained. Also, validation experiments have been performed at an optimal condition and selected three conditions to prove the proposed model’s accuracy and confirm the potentiality of the cashew nut shell oil as a cutting fluid. The results show that the performance of cashew nut shell oil as a cutting fluid is better as compared to the conventional synthetic cutting fluid in obtaining a better surface finish.
Read full abstract