Experimental Evaluation of the Performance of Oil-Based Nanofluids in the Grinding of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

The increasing demand for better machining performance has promoted the application of nanofluids in cutting operations. In this study, the grinding of Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) titanium alloy is evaluated under different cooling conditions such as dry cutting, emulsified fluid, synthetic oil fluid, and synthetic oil-based nanofluids. Mixing 0.25% exfoliated graphite nano-platelets (xGnP) and 1% hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) nano-particles with the synthetic oil produces two types of nanofluids. The grinding performance under different cooling modes is investigated in terms of grinding force, force ratio, and specific energy. The experimental results show that all oil-based coolings generally present lower grinding forces in comparison with dry cutting. The addition of xGnP and hBN nano-particles into the base fluid further reduces the grinding forces because of the polishing effect and the formation of a lubricating film in the cutting zone to improve the lubrication properties.