Performance Evaluation of Selected Animal and Vegetable Oil BasedCutting Fluids in Mild Steel Turning Operation

Abstract

Mineral-based oils conventionally used as base oils in cutting fluids for mild steel turning operations are nonbiodegradable and hazardous to human health. Alternative cutting fluids that will not present these difficulties needs to be developed. This study's goal was to assess how well cutting fluids made from vegetable and animal oils performed during mild steel turning operations. The sample fluids used were groundnut oil cutting fluid (GCF), palm kernel cutting fluid (PKCF), lard cutting fluid (LCF), tallow cutting fluid (TCF) and palm oil cutting fluid (POCF), while mineral oil-based cutting fluid (MCF) served as the control fluid. Different cutting speeds (34.88, 46.82, 62.84, 84.21) m/min; feed rates (0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35) mm/rev and depths of cut (0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00) mm were used in the turning operation. The parameters investigated were tool flank wear (Tw), spindle power ( P ), machine vibration (Vm), noise (Nm), work piece surface roughness (Ra), and tool temperatures (T). From the results, MCF recorded average values of 0.21mm, 613.75W, 0.52 m/s2 , 69.38dB, 1.14μm and 48.70oC for Tw, P , Vm, Nm, Ra and T respectively, while the best performed sample fluid, LCF, recorded average values of 0.22mm, 602.50W, 0.52 m/s2 , 69.40dB, 0.45μm and 48.90 oC respectively. POCF was the least performed sample fluid, with average values of 0.28mm, 905.00W, 0.72 m/s2 , 71.58dB, 1.62μm and 53.55oC for the above parameters, respectively. LCF recorded the closest values to MCF and this was followed by GCF, TCF, PKCF and POCF in that order respectively. The study showed that the investigated fluids offered competitive performance to that of MCF, hence, can serve as possible replacement for them.