Minimum Quantity Lubricant: A Beneficial Application in Hard-Milling of AISI H13 Steel

In this study, the efficiency of minimum quantity lubricant (MQL) was demonstrated during hard-milling of AISI H13 steel with a carbide-coated (TiAlN) cutting tool. A comparative analysis was done to prove the effectiveness of MQL versus the dry cutting method based on certain process parameters such as surface roughness and cutting force. The L27 orthogonal array of the Taguchi method was used for designing the experiment. An analysis of the influence of cutting parameters including cutting-speed, feed-rate, depth-of-cut and hardness-of-workpiece on the cutting force and the surface roughness was carried out by using the response surface methodology (RSM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result shows that under both of the cutting conditions (MQL and dry), feed rate and depth-of-cut are main factors affecting surface roughness and cutting force. Further, quadratic mathematical models for predicting cutting force and surface roughness under dry cutting and MQL conditions were established. The analysis of the roughness and the cutting force showed the outstanding effectiveness of MQL when compared with dry cutting.