Stability analysis of hybrid Al2O3-TiO2 nano-cutting fluids

Abstract

This paper is to study the stability of the current combination of hybrid nano-cutting fluids due to the recent progress in the analysis of nano-cutting fluids, such as the assessment methods for the stability of nano-cutting fluids, have revealed that instability is a common problem associated with nano cutting fluids. Five samples of 0.001 vol% that are suitable to be tested at UV-Vis machine, Al2O3–TiO2 hybrid nano-cutting fluid was prepared using a one-step process with the help of a magnetic stirrer to stir for 30 minutes with different sonication time to determine the best or optimum sonication time for this hybrid nano-cutting fluid. Stability of nano-cutting fluids was analyses using UV–Vis spectrophotometer (0.001%, 0.0001%, 0.00001%), visual sedimentation (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%), TEM photograph capturing techniques (2%) and zeta potential analysis (0.001%, 0.00001%), that used different volume concentration that is suitable for each type of stability analysis. The stability analysis reveals that the best sonication time is 90 minutes, and the UV-vis spectrophotometer shows the stability of all samples is above 80% during a month compared to the initial value. Further, visual sedimentation shows good stability with minimum sedimentation and colour separation only. The zeta potential value also shows great stability with a value of 37.6 mV. It is found that the hybrid nano-cutting fluid is stable for more than a month when the nano is suspended in the base fluid of conventional coolant. The result in this paper is based on the experimental study of Al2O3-TiO2/CNC coolant base hybrid nano-cutting fluid for a month. However, to further validate the results presented in this paper, it is recommended to prolong the stability assessment time for six months for longer shelf life. The finding of this experimental study can be useful for high-precision product machining using similar CNC coolants, especially for aircraft and airspace applications for machining parts. No thorough stability assessment using all four types of stability analysis is done on Al2O3-TiO2/CNC Coolant base hybrid nano cutting fluid.