Nano Cutting Fluids in Minimum Quantity Lubrication

Machining is characterized by high cutting forces and temperatures that drastically influence the product quality. To deal with the problem, cutting fluids have been the conventional choices. However, several problems posed by the cutting fluids, including the health hazards like dermatitis to the exposed workers, have demanded for alternative cooling methods. As a solution, Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) has emerged. This calls for fluids of high thermal conductivity. In the present work, inclusion of nano-particles is studied for the enhancement in cutting fluid properties. Parent cutting fluid properties are estimated through a series of tests as per ASTM. CuO nano particle inclusion, in varying proportions is studied. Heat transfer rates are computed for the parent fluid and the fluids with nano particle inclusion are computed and temperature profiles of cutting tool are simulated using Finite Element Analysis. The results are compared with the experimental results of dry machining and machining with parent cutting fluid. Results indicate that nano-particle inclusion shows drastic improvement in the properties of the cutting fluid. Inclusion upto 6% is beneficial to machining through cooling and inclusion beyond 6% is not desirable. The flow rate of the coolant is controlled and minimized to obtain satisfactory levels of cooling with minimum quantity of the lubricant. An intelligent system is built up using artificial neural networks to decide the required flow rate for any percentage of nano-particle inclusion. This work provides a basis for studying the effectiveness of the fluids in MQL.