Mechanical Engineering Project Topics

Development of Environmentally Friendly Biodegradable Cutting Fluid From Soya Beans (Glycine Max)

Development of Environmentally Friendly Biodegradable Cutting Fluid From Soya Beans (Glycine Max)

Development of Environmentally Friendly Biodegradable Cutting Fluid From Soya Beans (Glycine Max)

CHAPTER ONE

Aim and Objectives of the Research

The aim of this work is the development of environmentally friendly biodegradable cutting lubricant from soya beans (glycine max).

The specific objectives of the research are:

  1. Developing biodegradable cutting fluid from vegetable based oil (soya beans) that is environmentally
  2. Carrying out performance evaluation of the developed cutting fluid in turning operations based on the surface finish, chip thickness ratio, amount of heat generated during the machining operation and chemical properties (corrosion, pH values, acid value and viscosity) of the developed cutting
  3. Comparing the physiochemical properties of the developed cutting fluid to that of the conventional cutting

CHAPTER TWO

 LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

One of the interesting recent developments is the growing realization that bioresources present practical alternatives to fuels and lubricants derived from liquid fossil fuels. However, no pure vegetable or mineral oil possesses all the properties required by modern technology in machining processes, therefore, a mixture of some sort is necessary. This has led to the development of several cutting fluids using many soluble mineral oils (Akpobi and Enabulele, 2002).

Cutting lubricants may consist of pure oil, a mixture of two or more oils or a mixture of oil and water (Akpobi and Enabulele, 2002). Oils are generally divided into two groups: the fixed oils and mineral oils. The fixed oils have greater “oiliness” than the mineral oils, but they are not so stable and tend to become gummy and decompose when heated. In this group are animal and vegetable oils. On the other hand, the mineral oils group is obtained from crude petroleum mined from oil fields. The most common type of lubricant used for cutting is soluble oil, which when mixed with water, forms a white solution known as “suds” or “slurry”. This has better cooling properties than oil, (it is justified by the presence of water, which has the best cooling properties but poor in lubrication) but does not lubricate as well. The oil part of it is generally a mineral oil mixed with a soap solution (Chapman, 2002).

During machining operations, heat is generated and this has adverse effects on the work piece surface finish and dimensional accuracy, tool wear and life, as well as production rate.

Lubricants are therefore employed in machining operations to either achieve cooling, cooling and lubrication, or minimize chip adhesion to the work piece or tool; and the goal of employing a lubricant in any machining operation is dependent on choice lubricant functions. (Chernor, 1999 and Chapman, 2002).

Whichever functions a cutting fluid is to serve in any machining operation, it must possess some qualities, which have been identified as:

  • High decomposition or oxidation temperature, not too sticky, should not foam orsmoke unduly, must not be a contaminant to lubricants used elsewhere in the  If these qualities are lacking, the cutting fluid may result in serious ecological or health issues (Ibhadode, 2001).
  • Ithas been observed that expenses on cutting fluids form a major parts of manufacturing costs per part produced. It is therefore, a cost cutting measure to develop cost effective and efficient cutting fluids for machining processes. This could be achieved through the use of cheap and readily available vegetable oils (Ibhadode, 2001).

Cutting Fluid

A cutting fluid is a type of coolant and lubricant designed specifically for metalworking and machining processes.

There are various kinds of cutting fluids, which include oils, oil-water emulsions, pastes, gels, aerosols (mists), and air or other gases. They may be made from petroleum distillates, animal fats, plant oils, water and air, or other raw ingredients. Depending on the context or on the type of cutting fluid being considered, and it may be referred to as a cutting fluid, cutting oil, cutting compound, coolant, or lubricant (Ibhadode, 2001). Cutting fluids are used in metal machining for a variety of reasons such as improving tool life, reducing work piece thermal deformation, improving surface finish and flushing away chips from the cutting zone.

Characteristics of a good Cutting fluid:

A good cutting fluid should have the following properties;

  • Ability to keep the work piece at a stable temperature (critical when working to close tolerances).
  • Ability to maximize the life of the cutting tip by lubricating the working edge and reducing tip welding.
  • To ensure safety for the people handling it (toxicity, bacteria, and fungi) and for the environment on disposal.
  • To prevent rust on machine parts (Ibhadode, 2001).

Functions of Cutting fluid

The functions of cutting fluid are basically two; cooling and lubrication.

  • Cooling: Metal cutting operations generate heat due to tool friction and energy used indeforming the material. The surrounding air is a poor coolant for the cutting tool because it conducts heat poorly and has low thermal mass. Ambient-air cooling is adequate for light cuts and low duty cycles typical of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) or hobbyist  However, production work requires heavy cutting over long periods and typically produces more heat than air cooling can remove. Rather than stopping production while the tool cools, using liquid coolant removes heat rapidly, and can also increase cutting rate and reduce friction and tool wear.
  • Lubrication: Besides cooling, cutting fluids also aid the cutting process by lubricating theinterface between the tool’s cutting edge and the chip. By preventing friction at this interface, some of the heat generation is prevented. This lubrication also helps prevent the chip from being welded onto the tool, which interferes with subsequent cutting.

Types of Cutting fluids

Practically all cutting fluids presently in use fall into one of these four categories: (Ibhadode, 2001)

 

CHAPTER THREE

 MATERIALS AND METHOD

  Materials

The materials for the experiment includes; soya beans, soluble oil, phenol, washing soda, sulphur, potassium hydroxide and acetone

Equipment

The equipment for the research includes; lathe machine, hydraulic press, pH meter, viscometer, infra –red- thermometer, beaker, conical flask and surface finish comparism tablet

Method of Developing Cutting fluid

The oil sample used in this work was prepared into cutting fluid using the suggestions given by earlier researchers in this field (Ibahadode, 2001 and Chapman, 2002). In preparing the sample of cutting fluid, 500 ml of vegetable oil was measured (using a 1-litre measuring beaker) and mixed with water in oil to water ratio of 1: 10 (Chapman, 2002). This mixture was thereafter blended with 10% vol/vol washing soap, 5% vol/vol phenol, 5% vol/vol sulphur, all at room temperature. See Table 3.1 for the function of some of the material.

CHAPTER FOUR 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results

The tables below show the results obtained in the machining of mild steel using conventional soluble oil and the developed oil for acidity, pH measurement, corrosion, viscosity and mechanical properties

CHAPTER FIVE

  CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

 Conclusions

It has been established that ecology-friendly vegetable-based oil could successfully replace petroleum- based mineral oils as cutting fluid with slight modifications and careful alterations in some of the components of such oils, even better performing cutting fluids could be obtained. The overall results are summarized below:

  • The cooling property of the developed vegetable-based cutting fluids offers acompetitive performance with that of the convectional cutting fluid, as shown by the narrow temperature different of 7 oC using convectional cutting fluid an 53.13 oC using the developed cutting fluid.
  • Chip thickness formed using developed cutting fluid was found to be 0.446 mmwhich is higher than that of the convectional cutting fluid which is 0.316 mm, the high chip thickness value is probably due to its better lubricating ability, and this allows easier and deeper penetration of cutting tool into work piece and better metal removal rate.
  • Viscosity of the convectional cutting fluid and that of the developed cutting fluidwere analyzed, the average viscosity of the developed cutting fluid was found to be 31.1 poise at 29 oC, while the convectional cutting fluid was 47 poise at 29 o Low viscosity means high viscosity index, the developed cutting fluid has tendency to be fluid at higher temperature than the convectional fluid.
  • The acid value of convention cutting fluid was found to be 4.57 while that of thedeveloped cutting fluid was 3.85 (See appendix for the calculation). The high acid value of the conventional sample may have been responsible for its high translucent nature above the developed sample. A high acid value promotes emulsification and higher corrosion tendencies
  • In corrosion measurement, the developed cutting fluid shows no spots, (see plate1) which means the developed cutting fluid has good ability to inhibit corrosion than the convectional cutting fluid.
  • In surface finish measurement, it was concluded that the effect of depth of cut onsurface finish is lower using the developed cutting fluid to that of the conventional cutting fluid. Also, it was found that the average surface finish formed using the developed cutting fluid was 3.102 mm while that of the conventional cutting fluid was 277 mm. lower value of surface finish indicate a better finishing.

Recommendation

For further research, qualitative and quantitative analysis on the effects of cutting additives on various oils can also be carried out.

REFERENCES

  • Abioye. O and Bawonda. K. (2000); Effect of Vegetable based lubricants on temperature in the turning operation of mild steel unpublished project Mechanical Engineering department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
  • Arshiov, V and Alekseeo, G. (2003): Metal Cutting theory and cutting tool design, MIR publishers, Moscow.
  • Ajala, A. O. (1981): Investigation of the major characteristics of some vegetables oil used in Nigeria unpublished M.Sc thesis, mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria.
  • Ávila. R, Abrão. M, (2001) “The effect of cutting fluids on the machining of hardened AISI 4340 steel,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology; 119:21-26.
  • Akpobi, J.A. and Enabulele, W.O.(2002) Formulation of a water-soluble oil as a metal cutting fluid, Nig. Inst. of Production Engineers Technical Transactions, Special Edition, 7(3) p. 97-106.
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  • Belluco. W and DeChiffre. (2002) “Surface integrity and part accuracy in reaming and tapping stainless steel with new vegetable based cutting oils,” Tribology International ; 35:865-870.