Journal of Materials Processing Technology 171 (2006) 9399

The influence of minimum quantity of lubrication (MQL)

on cutting temperature, chip and dimensional accuracy
in turning AISI-1040 steel
N.R. Dhar a, , M.W. Islam a , S. Islam a , M.A.H. Mithu b
a

Department of Industrial & Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
b Department of Industrial & Production Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST), Sylhet, Bangladesh
Received 13 May 2004; received in revised form 20 June 2005; accepted 20 June 2005

Abstract
In metal industries, the use of cutting fluid has become more problematic in terms of both employee health and environmental pollution.
But the use of cutting fluid generally causes economy of tools and it becomes easier to keep tight tolerances and to maintain workpiece
surface properties without damages. Because of them some alternatives has been sought to minimize or even avoid the use of cutting fluid
in machining operations. Some of these alternatives are dry machining and machining with minimum quantity of lubrication (MQL). This
paper deals with experimental investigations in the role of MQL on cutting temperature, chip formation and product quality in turning AISI1040 steel at different industrial speed-feed combinations by uncoated carbide insert. The results have been compared with dry machining
and machining with soluble oil as coolant. The experimental results indicate that such MQL enables substantial reduction in the cutting
temperature, dimensional inaccuracy depending upon the levels of the cutting velocity and feed rate. It was also noted that the chip formation
and chiptool interaction become more favorable under MQL condition. Therefore, it appears that MQL, if properly employed, not only
provides environment friendliness but can also improve the machinability characteristics.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: MQL; Turning; Steel; Cutting temperature; Chip; Dimensional deviation

1. Introduction
The growing demand for higher productivity, product
quality and overall economy in manufacturing by machining and grinding, particularly to meet the challenges thrown
by liberalisation and global cost competitiveness, insists high
material removal rate and high stability and long life of the
cutting tools. But high production machining and grinding
with high cutting velocity, feed and depth of cut are inherently
associated with generation of large amount of heat and high
cutting temperature. Such high cutting temperature not only
reduces dimensional accuracy and tool life but also impairs
the surface integrity of the product. In high speed machining,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +88 2 966 5611; fax: +88 2 861 3046.
E-mail address: nrdhar@ipe.buet.ac.bd (N.R. Dhar).

0924-0136/$ see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2005.06.047

conventional cutting fluid application fails to penetrate the

chiptool interface and thus cannot remove heat effectively
[1,2]. Addition of extreme pressure additives in the cutting
fluids does not ensure penetration of coolant at the chiptool
interface to provide lubrication and cooling [3]. However,
high-pressure jet of soluble oil, when applied at the chiptool
interface, could reduce cutting temperature and improve tool
life to some extent [4,5].
However, the advantages caused by the cutting fluids have
been questioned lately, due to the several negative effects
they cause. When inappropriately handled, cutting fluids may
damage soil and water resources, causing serious loss to the
environment. Therefore, the handling and disposal of cutting
fluids must obey rigid rules of environmental protection. On
the shop floor, the machine operators may be affected by the
bad effects of cutting fluids, such as by skin and breathing
problems [6].

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For the companies, the costs related to cutting fluids represent a large amount of the total machining costs. Several
research workers [7,8] state that the costs related to cutting
fluids are frequently higher than those related to cutting tools.
Consequently, elimination on the use of cutting fluids, if possible, can be a significant economic incentive. Considering
the high cost associated with the use of cutting fluids and projected escalating costs when the stricter environmental laws
are enforced, the choice seems obvious. Because of them
some alternatives has been sought to minimize or even avoid
the use of cutting fluid in machining operations. Some of these
alternatives are dry machining and machining with minimum
quantity lubrication (MQL).
Dry machining is now of great interest and actually, they
meet with success in the field of environmentally friendly
manufacturing [7,9]. In reality, however, they are sometimes
less effective when higher machining efficiency, better surface finish quality and severe cutting conditions are required.
For these situations, semi-dry operations utilizing very small
amount of cutting fluids are expected to become a powerful tool and, in fact, they already play a significant role in a
number of practical applications [1013]. Minimum quantity
lubrication (MQL) refers to the use of cutting fluids of only
a minute amounttypically of a flow rate of 50500 ml/h
which is about three to four orders of magnitude lower than
the amount commonly used in flood cooling condition. The
concept of minimum quantity lubrication, sometimes referred
to as near dry lubrication [7] or micro-lubrication [14], has
been suggested since a decade ago as a mean of addressing
the issues of environmental intrusiveness and occupational
hazards associated with the airborne cutting fluid particles
on factory shop floors. The minimization of cutting fluid also
leads to economical benefits by way of saving lubricant costs
and workpiece/tool/machine cleaning cycle time.
Significant progress has been made in dry and semidry machining recently, and minimum quantity lubrication
(MQL) machining in particular has been accepted as a
successful semi-dry application because of its environmentally friendly characteristics. Some good results have been
obtained with this technique [1015]. Lugscheider et al. [16]
used this technique in reaming process of gray cast iron
and aluminum alloy with coated carbide tools and concluded
that it caused a reduction of tool wear when compared with
the completely dry process and, consequently, an improvement in the surface quality of the holes. The drilling of
aluminumsilicon alloys is one of those processes where dry
cutting is impossible [17] due to the high ductility of the
workpiece material. Without cooling and lubrication, the chip
sticks to the tool and breaks it in a very short cutting time.
Therefore, in this process a good alternative is the use of the
MQL technique [18].
The present work experimentally investigates the role of
minimum quantity lubrication on cutting temperature, chip
reduction coefficient and dimensional deviation in plain turning of AISI-1040 steel at different speed-feed combinations
by uncoated carbide insert and compares the effectiveness of

MQL with that of dry machining and conventional cutting

fluid.

2. Experimental conditions and procedure

For the present experimental studies, AISI-1040 steel rod
of initial diameter 110 mm and length 620 mm was plain
turned in a BMTF Lathe, Bangladesh, 4 hp by uncoated carbide insert of integrated chip breaker geometry at different
speed-feed combinations under dry, wet and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions to study the role of MQL on
the machinability characteristics of that work material mainly
in respect of cutting temperature, chip reduction coefficient
and dimensional deviation. The experimental conditions are
given in Table 1. The ranges of the cutting velocity (Vc ) and
feed rate (So ) were selected based on the tool manufacturers
recommendation and industrial practices. The depth of cut
was kept constant since it has much less significant role on
the machining characteristics excepting the magnitude of the
cutting forces, which simply increase proportionally with the
increase in depth of cut.
The MQL needs to be supply at high pressure and
impinged at high speed through the nozzle at the cutting zone.
Considering the conditions required for the present work and
uninterrupted supply of MQL at constant pressure over a reasonably long cut, a MQL delivery system has been designed,
fabricated and used. The schematic view of the MQL set up
is shown in Fig. 1. The thin but high velocity stream of MQL
was projected along the auxiliary cutting edge of the insert, as
indicated in a frame within Fig. 1, so that the coolant reaches
as close to the chiptool and the worktool interfaces as possible. The photographic view of the experimental set-up is
Table 1
Experimental conditions
Machine tool:
Workpiece:
Cutting tool (insert)
Cutting insert:

Tool holder:
Working tool geometry:
Process parameters
Cutting velocity, Vc :
Feed rate, So :
Depth of cut, t:
MQL supply:
Environment:

BMTF Lathe, Bangladesh, 4 hp

AISI-1040 steel (size:
110 mm 620 mm)
Carbide, SNMM 120408 (P-30 ISO
specification), Drillco

PSBNR 2525M12(ISO specification),

Drillco
6 , 6 , 6 , 6 , 15 , 75 , 0.8 (mm)
64, 80, 110 and 130 m/min
0.10, 0.13, 0.16 and 0.20 mm/rev
1.0 mm
Air: 7 bar, Lubricant: 60 ml/h (through
external nozzle)
Dry, wet (flood cooling) and minimum
quantity lubrication (MQL)

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95

Fig. 1. Schematic view of MQL unit.

shown in Fig. 2. The MQL jet has been used mainly to target the rake and flank surface along the auxiliary cutting edge
and to protect the auxiliary flank to enable better dimensional
accuracy.
MQL is expected to provide some favorable effects mainly
through reduction in cutting temperature. The simple but
reliable toolwork thermocouple technique [19] has been

employed to measure the average cutting temperature during turning at different Vc So combinations by the uncoated
carbide insert under dry, wet and MQL conditions. For the
present investigation, the calibration of the toolwork thermocouple has been carried out by external flame heating.
The toolwork thermocouple junction was constructed using
a long continuous chip of the concerned work material and

Fig. 2. Photographic view of the experimental set-up.

N.R. Dhar et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 171 (2006) 9399

96

Fig. 3. Variations in average chiptool interface temperature with cutting

velocity and feed rate during turning under dry, wet and MQL conditions.

a tungsten carbide insert to be used in actual cutting. To

avoid generation of parasitic emf, a long carbide rod was
used to extend the insert. A standard K-type thermocouple is
mounted at the site of toolwork junction. The oxy-acetylene
torch simulated the heat generation phenomena in machining
and raised the temperature at the chiptool interface. Standard
thermocouple directly monitored the junction temperature
when a digital multimeter monitored the emf generated by
the hot junction of the chiptool. The effect of MQL on average chiptool interface temperature at different Vc and So
under dry, wet and MQL conditions is shown in Fig. 3.

The chip samples collected while turning the steel by the

insert of configuration SNMM at different Vc So combinations under dry, wet and MQL condition have been visually
examined and categorized with respect to their shape and
color. The result of such categorization of the chips produced
at different conditions and environments by the AISI-1040
steel is shown in Table 2. The actual forms of the chips
produced during machining the steel with a cutting velocity
110 m/min and feed 0.16 mm/rev under dry, wet and MQL
conditions is shown in Fig. 4.
Another important machinability index is chip reduction
coefficient, (ratio of chip thickness after and before cut).
For given tool geometry and cutting conditions, the value
of depends upon the nature of chiptool interaction, chip
contact length and chip form all of which are expected to be
influenced by MQL in addition to the levels of Vc and So . The
variation in value of with Vc and So as well as machining
environment evaluated for AISI-1040 steel have been plotted
and shown in Fig. 5.
The deviations in the job diameter before and after cuts
were measured by a precision dial gauge with a least count
of 1 m, which was traveled parallel to the axis of the job.
MQL provided remarkable benefit in respect of controlling
the increase in diameter of the finished job with machining
time as can be seen in Fig. 6.

3. Experimental results and discussion

During machining any ductile materials, heat is generated at the primary deformation zone, secondary deformation
zone and the flank (clearance) surfaces, but the temperature

Table 2
Shape and color of chips at different Vc , So and environments
Cutting velocity,
Vc (m/min)

Environment

Feed rate, So (mm/rev)

0.10

0.13

0.16

0.20

Shape

Color

Shape

Color

Shape

Color

Shape

Color

64

Dry
Wet
MQL

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

80

Dry
Wet
MQL

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

110

Dry
Wet
MQL

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

130

Dry
Wet
MQL

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Blue
Blue
Metallic

Half turn

Tubular

Spiral

Ribbon

Chip shape

Chip group

N.R. Dhar et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 171 (2006) 9399

97

Fig. 4. Actual forms of chips produced during turning at cutting velocity 110 m/min and feed 0.16 mm/rev under (a) dry, (b) wet and (c) MQL conditions.

becomes maximum at the chiptool interface. The cutting

temperature measured in the present work refers mainly to
the average chiptool interface temperature. Any cutting fluid
applied conventionally cannot reduce this chiptool interface
temperature effectively because the fluid can hardly penetrate
into that the interface where the chiptool contact is mostly
plastic in nature particularly at higher cutting velocity and
feed. However, MQL jet could have reduced the cutting tem-

perature quite significantly though in different degrees for

different cutting velocity and feed combinations as can be
seen in Fig. 3. The presence of the grooves along the cutting edges and the hills on the tool rake surface and reduced
chiptool contact length may have helped the MQL jet to
come closer to the chiptool interface and thus effectively
cool that interface. The difference in the effectiveness of
MQL observed under different Vc and So can be reasonably

Fig. 5. Variation in chip reduction coefficient, , with cutting velocity and

feed rate during turning under dry, wet and MQL conditions.

Fig. 6. Dimensional deviations observed after one full pass under dry, wet
and MQL conditions.

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attributed to variation in the nature and extent of chiptool

contact with the changes in Vc and So .
The pattern of chips in machining ductile metals generally
depend upon the mechanical properties of the work material,
tool geometry particularly rake angle, levels of Vc and So ,
nature of chiptool interaction and the cutting environment.
In absence of chip breaker, length and uniformity of chips
increase with the increase in ductility and softness of the
work material, tool rake angle and cutting velocity unless the
chiptool interaction is adverse causing intensive friction and
built-up edge formation.
Table 2 shows that the steel when machined under dry and
wet conditions produced spiral type chips and the color of the
chips become blue. The geometry of the insert is such that
the chips first came out continuously got curled along normal plane and then hitting at the principal flank of the insert
broke into pieces with regular size and shape. When machined
under MQL the form of these ductile chips change appreciably into more or less half turn and their back surface appeared
much brighter and smoother. This indicates that the amount
of reduction of temperature and presence of MQL enabled
favorable chiptool interaction and elimination of even trace
of built-up edge formation. The color of the chips have also
become much lighter, i.e. metallic from blue depending upon
Vc and So due to reduction in cutting temperature by MQL.
The actual forms of chips produced during turning at cutting
velocity 110 m/min and feed 0.16 mm/rev under dry, wet and
MQL condition as can be seen in Fig. 4.
Almost all the parameters involved in machining have
direct and indirect influence on the thickness of the chips
during deformation. The degree of chip thickening which is
assessed by chip reduction coefficient, plays sizeable role
on cutting forces and hence on cutting energy requirements
and cutting temperature. Fig. 5 shows that MQL has reduced
the value of particularly at lower values of Vc and So . By
MQL application, is reasonably expected to decrease for
reduction in friction at the chiptool interface and reduction
in deterioration of effective rake angle by built-up edge formation and wear of the cutting edge mainly due to reduction
in cutting temperature.
MQL provided remarkable benefit in respect of controlling
the increase in diameter of the finished job with machining
time as can be seen in Fig. 6. In straight turning, the finished
job diameter generally deviates from its desired value with
the progress of machining, i.e. along the job-length mainly
for change in the effective depth of cut due to several reasons
which include wear of the tool nose, over all compliance
of the machinefixturetoolwork (MFTW) system and
thermal expansion of the job during machining followed by
cooling. Therefore, if the MFTW system is rigid, variation in diameter would be governed mainly by the heat and
cutting temperature. With the increase in temperature the rate
of growth of auxiliary flank wear and thermal expansion of
the job will increase. MQL takes away the major portion of
heat and reduces the temperature yielding reduction in dimensional deviation desirably.

4. Conclusions
Based on the results of the present experimental investigation the following conclusions can be drawn:
The cutting performance of MQL machining is better than
that of conventional machining with flood cutting fluid
supply.
MQL provides the benefits mainly by reducing the cutting
temperature, which improves the chiptool interaction and
maintains sharpness of the cutting edges.
Due to MQL, the form and color of the steel chips became
favorable for more effective cooling and improvements in
nature of interaction at the chiptool interface.
Dimensional accuracy improved mainly due to reduction
of wear and damage at the tool tip by the application of
MQL.

Acknowledgements
This work has been funded by Directorate of Advisory Extension and Research Services (DAERS) Committee for Advanced Studies & Research (CASR), BUET,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sanction DEARS/MC/R-09/2003/D-R929 (26) dated 22/12/2003. The authors are also grateful to
the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering,
BUET for providing the facilities to carryout the experiment.

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