A Study on Machining and Environmental Characteristics of Micro-Drilling Process Using Nanofluid Minimum Quantity Lubrication

This paper presents two basic experimental studies of a micro-drilling process with nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) in terms of machining and environmental characteristics. By using a miniaturized desktop machine tool system, a series of micro drilling experiments were conducted in the cases of dry, compressed air and nanofluid MQL. The experimental results imply that nanofluid MQL significantly reduces the adhesion of chips when compared with the cases of dry and compressed air micro-drilling. As a result, it is observed that the magnitudes of average drilling torque and thrust force are decreased and the tool life of micro drills is extended in the case of nanofluid MQL micro-drilling process. In addition, the empirical study on environmental characteristics of MQL micro-drilling process is conducted by measuring MQL oil mist with the oil sampling method. The results show that remaining MQL oil mist is tiny enough not to have a detrimental effect on human health.