ABSTRACT
In the current study, unitary and hybrid nanofluids are used with minimal lubrication to examine Inconel 718’s machinability. Nanofluids are obtained by dispersing unitary and mixed amounts of aluminium oxide, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and graphene nanoparticles into palm oil. Initially, turning experiments were performed with pure palm oil and different unitary and hybrid nanofluids using differently coated carbide tools to obtain the best combination of the type of nanofluid(s) and coated tool for the lowest tool wear. Further, the cutting forces, surface roughness, chip thickness ratio, chip morphology, and shear angle were obtained, varying with the cutting parameters for the best combination of nanofluid(s) and the tool. The analysis of worn-out tools has been performed through images captured using optical and scanning electron microscopes. The study indicates that aluminium titanium nitride-coated tools outperform titanium aluminium nitride-coated tools with hybrid aluminium oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotube-based nanofluid, followed by a unitary aluminium oxide-based nanofluid. It could be attributed to the higher thermal conductivity and surface tension of aluminium oxide nanoparticles and the better lubricating and cooling capabilities of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Comparatively lower performance was observed with graphene-based nanofluid due to severe agglomeration that adversely affected the homogeneity of the fluid.
Abbreviations
Al2O3 | = | Aluminium oxide |
AlTiN | = | Aluminium titanium nitride |
CNTs | = | Carbon nanotubes |
Cu | = | Copper |
CuO | = | Copper oxide |
Fe2O3 | = | Iron oxide |
GA | = | Gum arabic |
GnP | = | Graphene nanoplatelets |
Gr | = | Graphene |
HAG | = | Hybrid Al2O3+Gr |
HMA | = | Hybrid MWCNTs+Al2O3 |
HMG | = | Hybrid MWCNTs+Gr |
HMAG | = | Hybrid MWCNTs+Al2O3+Gr |
hBN | = | Hexagonal boron nitride |
MgO | = | Magnesium oxide |
MQL | = | Minimum quantity lubrication |
MoS2 | = | Molybdenum disulphide |
MWCNTs | = | Multi-wall carbon nanotubes |
ND | = | Nanodiamond |
NFMQL | = | Nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication |
PO | = | Palm oil |
PVD | = | Physical vapour deposited |
SiC | = | silicon carbide |
SiO2 | = | Silicon dioxide |
SDS | = | Sodium dodecyl sulphate |
SWCNTs | = | Single multi-wall carbon nanotubes |
TiAlN | = | Titanium aluminium nitride |
TiO2 | = | Titanium oxide |
UA | = | Unitary Al2O3 |
UG | = | Unitary Gr |
UM | = | Unitary MWCNTs |
WC | = | Tungsten carbide |
WS2 | = | Tungsten disulphide |
ZnO | = | Zinc oxide |
ZrO | = | Zirconium oxide |
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.