Evaluation of Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Cutting Lubricant When End Milling Martensutic Stainless Steel Using Uncoated Carbide Tool

When considering the ecological and enoironment aspects in machining process, the use of biodegradable oil can be an alternative source of lubricant due to its positive impact to both employee health and environmental pollution. This paper reports the experimental investigations of using vegetable oil through MQL as an alternative lubricant in end milling AISI 420 hardened stainless steel using uncoated carbide tool. Results on tool life and tool toear toere compared against other coolant techniques which include dry and flood coolant with emulsion. Machining trials were performed at constant cutting speed of 60 m/min and feed of 0.03 mm/tooth. The radial and axialdepth of cuts were maintained at 12 mm and 0.6 mm respectively. Experimental results shotoed that MQL with vegetable oil based lubricant outperformed the other coolant techniques in terms of tool life unin dry cutting condition recorded the shortest tool life. Maxiimum flank wear and chippings were the dominant tool failure mode under all coolant conditions tested. Based on this study, it can be concluded that both the coolant techniques and the type of lubricant used significantly affect the tool life and tool wear of the cutting tool.