Application of vegetable oil-based metalworking fluids in machining ferrous metals—A review

The increasing attention to the environmental and health impacts of industrial activities by governmental regulations and by the growing awareness level in the society is forcing industrialists to reduce the use of mineral oil-based metalworking fluids as cutting fluid. Cutting fluids have been used extensively in metal cutting operations for the last 200 years. In the beginning, cutting fluids consisted of simple oils applied with brushes to lubricate and cool the machine tool. As cutting operations became more severe, cutting fluid formulations became more complex. There are now several types of cutting fluids in the market and the most common types can be broadly categorized as cutting oils or water-miscible fluids. In this review, the applicability of vegetable oil-based metalworking fluids in machining of ferrous metals has been undertaken. The advantages of metalworking fluids and its performances with respect to the cutting force, surface finish of work piece, tool wear and temperature at the cutting zone have been investigated. It has been reported in various literature that metalworking fluids, which are vegetable oil-based, could be an environmentally friendly mode of machining with similar performance obtained using mineral oil-based metalworking fluids. ► Higher material removal rate can be achieved with vegetable oil-based fluids. ► Vegetable oil-based fluids are environmentally friendly. ► Vegetable oil-based fluids performed satisfactorily during machining processes.