Evaluation of drilling and hole quality characteristics in green machining aluminium alloys: A new approach towards green machining

Recent industrial research has looked for techniques that minimize the use of traditional cutting fluids for both economic and environmental concerns. One of the techniques used in machining to limit the use of cutting fluids in metal-cutting that is safe, sustainable, and economical is minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). Further, the lubricating performance of MQL can be enhanced by including solid lubricants. Therefore, the proposed work investigates surface quality, tool wear, chip morphology, and power consumption while drilling aluminium 6082 alloys using HSS drilling tools in various drilling conditions, namely, dry, flood, MQL, and minimum quantity solid lubrication (MQSL). The micron-sized molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is mixed with vegetable oil by 1 wt% and applied under the MQSL application. The experimental results showcased that the MQSL application successfully removed chips and burrs to improve the surface quality of holes by an average 3 %–44 % compared to other drilling conditions and resulted in least amount of tool wear. The application of MQSL concluded in lower tool wear from 12 %–56 % comparing to dry, flood, and MQL conditions. Because of its combining impact of lubrication by MoS₂ particles and good cooling efficiency of compressed air, MQSL is effective and concluded in low frictional force at the tool chip and work material area.