Experimental investigation of surface quality for minimum quantity oil–water lubrication grinding

Effective lubrication and cooling is necessary to ensure grinding temperature levels not to become excessive during grinding process. Conventional grinding fluid has negative influences on the working environment in terms of the health of the machine operator. Furthermore, the using of grinding fluid is seen to increase production cost due to fluid purchase and disposal. One attractive alternative is the minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) grinding. In this study, oil–water was applied in the MQL grinding and the grinding results were compared with those of wet, dry, and pure oil MQL grinding. It is found that MQL grinding in comparison to dry grinding significantly enhances grinding performance in terms of improving the quality of the ground workpiece and reducing grinding temperature and forces. Compared with pure oil MQL grinding, the grinding temperature and the thickness of the affected layer for oil–water MQL grinding are lower. However, the tangential force and surface roughness for oil–water MQL grinding are higher than that for pure oil MQL grinding. This indicates that the former has a better cooling condition than the latter, but the lubrication capacity is contrary.