Effect of Blended Cutting Fluids in Turning of Die Steel D2

Abstract

In the recent developments, demand for hard steels has been increased. The difficulty of Machining these material is increased due to its high hardness, toughness and strength using conventional method. In this project, die steel D2 is used as a workpiece for turning operation. This project aims to investigate the effect of blended vegetable oil based cutting fluid in turning D2 steel. The vegetable oils used were groundnut oil and cottonseed oil. These cutting fluids are used separately according to the experimental setup. These vegetable oil based cutting fluids are biodegradable, non-toxic, non-harmful to health for operators and it is not a fire hazard. The cutting tool used in this project is tungsten carbide tipped tool as it can withstand high hardness and high cutting speeds. Experimental investigations have been carried out by varying input parameters such as feeds, depth of cuts and spindle speeds. From these inputs, the output parameters are evaluated such as material removal rate and surface roughness. It is observed that MRR increases with increase in spindle speeds and feeds. The slight decrease in MRR is also observed with increasing depth of cut at varying speeds and feeds. Surface roughness values were also analysed in the investigation and it is observed that low roughness values were obtained with the use of groundnut oil based cutting fluid in the range of 1.65-4.11 Ra and high roughness values were obtained with the use of cottonseed oil based cutting fluid in the range of 3.13-4.93 Ra.