Experimental study on the effects of oil / water emulsion on machining stainless steel

In metal machining industry, tons of machining fluids are used every year. The discharged waste cutting liquids, however, are hazardous to people´s health and destructive to the natural environment. With environmental standard´s carrying out, Countries of the World have inflicted more serious punishments on the manufacturers for contaminating the environment with waste cutting fluids. Undoubtedly, the application of this law will impel the manufacturers to seek new environmental cooling and lubricating methods to replace the conventional ones. This paper mainly carries out the experimental studies on the cooling and lubrication effects of new environmental oil/water emulsion machining stainless steel (1Cr18Ni9Ti) on the C620-1 conventional lathe by changing cutting speeds and feed rates as well as adjusting spraying angles of the nozzle. The results show that oil/water emulsion cutting fluid can effectively lower cutting forces and decrease values of the machined surface roughness by comparing to dry cutting and oil water emulsion. Also, tool life of oil/water emulsion cutting fluid is 2.28 times and 1.6 times of dry cutting and oil water emulsion, respectively. In three spraying directions of oil/water emulsion, spraying to tool flank or side face has a good machining action. Clearly, these researches further demonstrate that oil/water emulsion cutting fluid has a good cooling effect and a better lubricating effect.