Development of Eco-Friendly Cutting Fluid for Machining of AISI 1010 Steel in Automotive Industry

In spite of better performance, the disposal of used petroleum-based cutting fluids threatens our environment. Thus, it is essential to develop eco-friendly cutting fluids for performing machining operations in industries. The main contribution of this paper is to develop an eco-friendly cutting fluid for the plain turning of AISI 1010 steel which is used in the automotive industry. In the present work, boric acid (H3BO3) was mixed with the neem seed. Neem seed oil is easily available in many countries including India. The effectiveness of the proposed cutting fluid was evaluated by conducting different tests as per the standards. The mean biodegradability value of the developed cutting fluid is 97% which is better than other cutting fluids. The average cutting force required by the proposed cutting fluid is only 127.2 N which is much less than the cutting force requirements of dry machining and conventional cutting fluids. The average surface roughness of the machined component using the proposed cutting fluid is 122.9 µm. The mean flank wear of the tool is only 289 µm. The flash point of the proposed cutting fluids is more than 250 °C which is better than the conventional cutting fluids. The fire point of the neem oil-based cutting fluids is 300 °C. The results of the stability test and the microhardness test revealed the effectiveness of the proposed cutting fluids. The results obtained in this work are superior to several other cutting fluids reported in the existing literature. Hence, it is suggested to replace the existing petroleum-based metal cutting fluid with this eco-friendly cutting fluid in the automotive industry in Hosur, India.