EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF MACHINABILITY CHARACTERISTICS UNDER MINIMUM QUANTITY LUBRICATION USING GRAPHENE BASED NANO-CUTTING FLUID.

Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) has proved to be a sustainable method which can replace flood cooling for the application of cutting fluid in the metal cutting operation. Addition of nanoparticles in the cutting fluid may enhance the cooling and lubricating properties of the base fluid. Present work deals with the experimental investigation of the effect of addition of graphene nanoparticles in the cutting fluid under MQL on machinability characteristics such as tool flank wear, surface roughness and cutting zone temperature. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized for the experimental design. The concentration of graphene nanoparticles in the base fluid, cutting velocity, feed rate and depth of cut were taken as cutting parameters. Regression analyses was employed to estimate flank wear, surface roughness and cutting temperature. ANOVA was applied to examine the influence of cutting parameters on cutting temperature, flank wear and surface roughness. Results showed that higher concentration of graphene nanoparticles played a significant role in reducing flank wear of cutting tool even at higher magnitude of cutting velocity and feed rate which has an immense potential of boosting the productivity of machining process. Minimum surface roughness was also obtained at higher concentration of graphene nanoparticles along with higher magnitude of cutting velocity and lower magnitude of feed rate and depth of cut. In case of cutting zone temperature higher concentration of graphene platelets was effective in reducing cutting zone temperature along with lower magnitude of cutting velocity, feed rate and depth of cut. Finally, the optimization of output responses was done in order to provide the ranges for best cutting conditions.