Machining of hard materials using textured tool with minimum quantity nano-green cutting fluid

Metal cutting causes severe friction and heat generation in the machining zone. Previously, petroleum-based cutting fluids were applied for reducing friction and machining temperature at the machining zone. Nowadays, nano-cutting fluids are preferred owing to their higher thermal conductivity and better lubricating ability. However, during machining of hard materials (hardness, ≥50 HRC), the effectiveness of these nano-cutting fluids is limited, as they rarely reach to the cutting edge of cutting tool because of high normal stresses. In this regard, the combination of rake face micro-textured cutting tool with indigenously synthesized nano-green cutting fluids under in-house developed minimum quantity cutting fluid (MQCF) environment is accomplished for hard machining experiments. For comparison, hard machining experiments are also performed under dry machining, green cutting fluid and nano-green cutting fluid (NGCF) with untextured cutting tools. Detailed analysis shows significant improvement in hard machining performance using combination of micro-textured tools with NGCF corresponding to forces, chip-tool interface friction, workpiece surface roughness and chip morphology. It is attributed to better infiltration of NGCF in-between chip-tool interface by virtue of micro-textures present on the cutting tool rake face. Further, the proposed analytical model captures the effect of textures on the tool surface in the same way as reduced contact tools. It is in a good agreement with corresponding experimental cutting forces.