Empirical investigation of surface quality and temperature during turning AISI 304 steel with vegetable oil based metalworking fluids

Metalworking Fluids (MWFs) are used at the cutting zone during machining to obtain a smooth operation by facilitating a layer of lubricant to reduce friction, act as a coolant to reduce induced heat and prevent metal pick-ups by flushing away the chips. Hence the liquid which use as a MWF reduce wear on the tool and reduce energy requirement for the operation. However the health and environmental hazards during the usage of mineral oil based MWFs throughout their life cycle are very high with respect to the vegetable oil based MWFs. Most of this vegetable oil based MWFs are developed from highly oleic oils such as sunflower, soya bean and canola. In this research, a new emulsion metalworking fluid was developed with white coconut oil as the base oil. Straight turning machining experiments were conducted with AISI 304 steel at different cutting speeds while applying newly developed MWF, mineral based soluble oil, white coconut oil and soya bean oil. In each experiment surface quality and tool tip temperature were measured and compared. Better performances for the newly developed MWF with respect to the surface roughness and tool tip temperature were observed during the application of four different MWFs.