Surface Integrity and Flank Wear Response Under Pure Coconut Oil-Al2O3 Nano Minimum Quantity Lubrication Turning of Al-7079/7 wt%-TiC In Situ Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract Major cooling and lubricating properties such as conduction, convection, and lubricant stability at higher temperatures are improvised by the addition of nanoparticle into metal cutting fluids. The present investigation is mainly focused on the effects of pure coconut oil (PC)-based nanofluids through minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) on oblique cutting performance of Al-7079/7 wt%-TiC in situ reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs). The machining performance has been evaluated under dry machining, pure coconut oil (PC)-MQL, and MQL by varying 0.1% to 0.6 vol% nanoparticles into PC. The performance of nano cutting fluids was compared to dry machining and PC machining in terms of cutting forces, tool wear, cutting zone temperature, and surface roughness. It was found that, compared to dry and PC-MQL machining, the performance of nano MQL machining was superior among all cutting conditions. However, above 0.4% nano particles, the nano MQL performance was degraded drastically, which leads to the substantial increment in cutting forces, tool wear, surface roughness, and cutting zone temperature.