Progressive tool wear in machining of aluminum alloy: The influence of solid lubricant nanoparticles

The abstract should summarize the contents of the paper in short terms, i.e. 150–250 words. Aluminum alloy 7075 are used in a variety of applications particularly in automotive and aerospace industry owing to their features of lightweight, high-strength and corrosion resistant properties. However, build up edge (BUE) and material adhesion either on cutting tool or workpiece render these materials difficult to machine. Their machining is associated with rapid tool wear and poor workpiece quality. Cutting fluids are currently the common solution to these problems although there are concerns on their use in terms of health footprint and environmental effects. Thus, new innovations are crucial to enhance the machinability as well as diminishing hazards through encouraging greener machining techniques. In this research, the use of solid lubricants; graphene and hexagonal boron nitride nanoparticles to augment minimum quantity lubricant were researched in macro drilling. Effects of four different machining conditions namely dry, minimum quantity lubricant, minimum quantity lubricant dispersed with graphene and hexagonal boron nitride nanoparticles were investigated on their progressive tool wear behavior. A notable finding is that the nanoparticles of solid lubricants had a significant factor in improving machinability of aluminum alloy 7075 compared to dry and minimum quantity lubricant alone. It was observed that the use of minimum quantity lubricant dispersed with hexagonal boron nitride demonstrated desirable tool life enhancement, tool wear reduction and number of holes drilled increment.