Small quantity cooling lubrication (SQCL) with commercially available metal working fluids (MWF) and nano-fluids has been attempted successfully in machining and grinding. Solid lubricants also provided some benefits in grinding of metallic alloys. However, there are very few studies using molybdenum di-sulphide (MoS2) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) dispersed nanofluids applied in SQCL mode in grinding. The aim of the present work is to experimentally study improvement in grinding of EN31 steel using alumina grinding wheel with aqueous MoS2 and hBN nano-fluids. The grinding study is supported by detailed tribometry at 1 m/s sliding speed to reveal the possible reasons behind such improvement. MoS2 dispersed nano-fluids provided minimum coefficient of friction in ball-on-disc test. It also provided the maximum reduction in specific grinding energy and improvement in surface finish with respect to flood cooling. hBN dispersed nano-fluids could not match the performance of MoS2 dispersed nanofluids both in ball-on-disc and grinding experiments. © 2017 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Amitava Ghosh

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Sourabh Paul

Alumina

Cooling

FLUIDS

Friction

GRINDING WHEELS

Lubricants

Lubrication

METAL WORKING

Molybdenum compounds

Nanofluidics

Solid lubricants

ALUMINA GRINDING WHEELS

Coefficient of frictions

Experimental evaluation

HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE (H-BN)

METALWORKING FLUIDS

Nanofluids

SPECIFIC GRINDING ENERGY

TRIBOMETRY

Grinding (machining)

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Materials Science Forum

Procedia Manufacturing

Presidents of NAMRI/SME

Grinding, being a high specific energy involving process, essentially requires a high-performance cutting fluid when small quantity lubrication (SQL) is employed. In SQL, a small volume of metal working fluid is broken into micro-droplets by a compressed air jet so that the aerosol jet cools and lubricates machining zone more efficiently than flood cooling. In the present work, a new generation grinding fluid was indigenously synthesized by dispersing multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in deionized water for SQL grinding of steel by an alumina wheel, and its capability was evaluated in depth in comparison with the commercially used soluble oil. It was observed that a maximum of 1 vol% MWCNT could be dispersed without any settling tendency over 48 h, which subsequently rendered the highest thermal conductivity to the nanofluid sample. It was approximately 35 % higher than that of soluble oil. In a simulative ball (Al2O3) on disc (hardened AISI 52100 steel) test, it was further found that this nanofluid sample was 30 % more lubricious than its counterpart. The higher heat dissipation ability and better lubricity finally resulted in remarkably superior performance of MWCNT nanofluid to that of soluble oil. In comparison with the later MWCNT nanofluid, in particular, at 3 bar of atomizing air pressure and 350 ml/h flow rate, could offer substantially better G ratio, significantly reduce tangential grinding force and produce comparable surface finish. Additionally, presence of more number of long and sheared chips and less spherical chips in the collected sample was a clear indicator of reduction in grinding temperature when soluble oil was replaced by MWCNT in SQL mode. © 2014, Springer-Verlag London.

International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Synthesis of MWCNT nanofluid and evaluation of its potential besides soluble oil as micro cooling-lubrication medium in SQL grinding

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A tribological study of vegetable oil enhanced by nano-platelets and implication in MQL machining

Nano-Micro Letters

Analysis of Nanofluids as Cutting Fluid in Grinding EN-31 Steel

International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture

A study of plane surface grinding under minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions

An experimental evaluation of solid lubricant based nanofluids in small quantity cooling and lubrication during grinding

Journal	Materials Science Forum
Publisher	Trans Tech Publications Ltd
ISSN	02555476
Open Access	No