MQL: An Emerging Cooling Technique for Cutting Operation

Micro lubrication or also known as minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) serves as an alternative to flood cooling by reducing the volume of cutting fluid used in the machining process. Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) has increasingly found its way into the area of metal cutting machining and in many areas, has already been established. The adverse health effects caused by the use of coolants and on another side the potential economic advantages of greener machining methods like MQL are drawing manufacturer’s attention to adapt and develop new methods of using lubricants. The aim of this research is to determine if the minimal quantity lubrication (MQL) technique in turning gives some advantages in terms of work piece surface roughness using work piece material as EN-31 steel and carbide cutting tool material. Fluid selection is important for MQL because it must be a superior fluid such as vegetable oil or synthetic oil. The costs of these superior fluids are higher but eliminate the need for costly fluid recycling and disposal services. We used Taguchi method to plan and conduct experiments to obtain enough optimized and relevant data. It was found that, MQL produced better surface finish as compared to wet machining. The result can significantly reduce cost and environmental pollution.