Studies on corrosion and quenching effects of cutting fluid with vegetable-based emulsifier on AISI 1040 steel

摘要

Cutting fluids are popularly used for cooling and lubricating the machining zone. However, the hazardous effects of cutting fluids on the workers' health limit their usage. Although different studies were carried out to replace mineral oils in cutting fluids using vegetable oils, replacement of mineral-based emulsifier was not considered. This work aims at developing new class of cutting fluids by replacing both the mineral oil and petroleum-based emulsifier with vegetable-based alternatives. Apart from performance in machining, the after effects of cutting fluids like hardness and corrosion play an important role in the decision of adopting the cutting fluid. In this work, hardness and corrosion tests were carried out on the samples machined using the formulated fluids and regular cutting fluid (with petroleum-based emulsifier). It was found that the fluid with 15% vegetable emulsifier has hardness similar to regular cutting fluid and fluid with 20% emulsifier has lesser corrosion compared to other fluids. The results can be used for initiating future research in this direction.