Abstract
Nanofluid is the suspension formed by lubricating oil and nanoparticles with particles sizes of 1~100 nm, and common nanoparticles include metal nanoparticles (Cu, Ag, etc.), oxide nanoparticles (Al2O3, SiO2, ZrO2, etc.), carbides (CNT, diamond), and MoS2 nanoparticles, etc. Different nanoparticles exhibit various physicochemical properties (e.g., structure and shape), which can influence their tribological characteristics. In this work, six nanofluids, namely, MoS2, SiO2, diamond, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), Al2O3, and ZrO2, were used as minimum quantity lubrication grinding fluids to select the kind of nanoparticles with optimum lubrication performance in grinding nickel alloy GH4169. Experimental results concluded the following: 1) Nanoparticles with spherical or sphere-like molecular structure and nanofluids with high viscosity demonstrate superior lubrication performances. 2) The polishing effect of nanodiamond particles enhances their surface morphology. 3) The lubricating property of the six nanofluids is described in the following order: ZrO2 < CNTs < ND < MoS2 < SiO2 < Al2O3.