Sustainable metalworking fluid for greener machining

Since the number of unfavourable effects of the mineral oil component in the metalworking fluids (MWF), formulation of natural oil-based MWFs has been started several decades ago. Introducing nanoparticles to natural oil-based MWFs was considered widely for the enrichment of their tribological, rheological properties and the machining performances. However, the sustainability consideration in terms of environmental, social and economic influence of the Nanoparticles is lacking in the screening stage in the literature. Most of the Nanoparticles used to synthesize nano cutting fluids are untenable due to their high cost and the toxicity to the environment as well as the human health. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present the development of a sustainable natural oil-based Nano MWF for greener machining operations. A novel MWF was formulated by binding coconut oil and Titanium carbonitride (Ti2CN) Nanoparticles from the group; very low toxicity - very low price. Coconut oil-based nano MWF (COCO-NMWF) with Ti2CN NPs presents a stable pH value after 48 hours. COCO-NMWF with 0.10w/w% Ti2CN NPs shows the least value of contact angle and coefficient of friction among all the MWF samples.