EFFECT OF MINIMUM QUANTITY LUBRICATION ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS IN TOOL-BASED MICROMILLING

Abstract

Cutting fluid plays an important role in machining processes to achieve dimensional accuracy in reducing tool wear and improving the tool life. Conventional flood cooling method in machining processes is not cost effective and consumption of huge amount of cutting fluids is not healthy and environmental friendly. In micromachining, flood cooling is not recommended to avoid possible damage of the microstructures. Therefore, one of the alternatives to overcome the environmental issues to use minimum quantity of lubrication (MQL) in machining process. MQL is eco-friendly and has economical advantage on manufacturing cost. However, there observed lack of study on MQL in improving machined surface roughness in micromilling. Study of the effects of MQL on surface roughness should be carried out because surface roughness is one of the important issues in micromachined parts such as microfluidic channels. This paper investigates and compares surface roughness with the presence of MQL and dry cutting in micromilling of aluminium alloy 1100 using DT-110 milling machine. The relationship among depth of cut, feed rate, and spindle speed on surface roughness is also analyzed. All three machining parameters identified as significant for surface roughness with dry cutting which are depth of cut, feed rate, and spindle speed. For surface roughness with MQL, it is found that spindle speed did not give much influence on surface roughness. The presence of MQL provides a better surface roughness by decreasing the friction between tool and workpiece.