Investigation of ionic liquids as additives to canola oil inminimum quantity lubrication milling of plain medium carbon steel

Abstract

Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) machining has been widely explored as an alternative to cutting fluids, which are known to be major sources of operator health hazards and environmental pollution. However, the lubricants employed in MQL machining have limitations and quest for a more sustainable and effective lubricant continues. Ionic liquids, which have been explored for many engineering applications including tribology, can be strong candidates as environmentally friendly lubricants for sustainable machining applications due to their eco-friendly nature and flexible physical as well as chemical properties. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of ionic liquids as lubricants inMQL machining, and to study their actionmechanism as lubricants in extremely demanding conditions encountered in metal cutting. This paper presents the results of a pioneering study conducted to investigate the effects of three representative ionic liquids on the tribology of machining when applied as additives to vegetable oil (Canola) in MQL milling of a plain medium carbon steel. The results demonstrate that the presence of even small quantities of ionic liquids significantly affects the tribological conditions of the machining process, has a great potential to be applied to metalworking fluids in near dry machining conditions, and can be considered as a potential way to reduce forces during machining, thus reducing energy usage and achieving sustainable machining.