Investigation of a new ecologically benign metalworking fluid in abrasive machining processes to substitute mineral oil based fluids

Metalworking fluids (MWFs) are needed to cool, to lubricate and to remove chips from the processing zone. In most cases, the finite resource mineral oil is the raw material for those MWFs. The use of mineral oil based MWFs in normal and high performance metal processing is often associated with functional, economic and environmental disadvantages. A possible sustainable alternative can be polymers diluted in water, but the decisive factor is the ability to achieve similar or better process performances than conventional MWFs. This paper investigates the technological suitability of a MWF based on polymers in comparison to conventional MWFs in abrasive machining processes. (C) 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Konrad Wegener