ABSTRACT
In grinding operations, excess amounts of lubrication fluid has negative effect on the heath of the machine operator and the environment. Another disadvantage is the cost associated with filtration and waste disposal of fluid. In this paper, experimental investigations were made for minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) as compared to dry and flood lubrication with constant input parameters viz. wheel speed, feed rate and depth of cut on the surface temperature and surface roughness (SR) during surface grinding operation of a mild steel workpiece. This study also optimizes the effect of MQL flow rate and air pressure with different nozzle positions on the surface temperature and SR of workpiece. It was observed that a minimum SR of 5µm was obtained during MQL through single nozzle grinding operation, and maximum surface roughness of 9µm was obtained during dry surface grinding operation. It was observed that MQL with a single nozzle was the optimal lubrication/cooling method as it produced the lowest SR at 5 µm and surface temperature 45ºC compared to other methods.
