Graphene-enhanced environmentally-benign cutting fluids for high-performance micro-machining applications.

A canola-based cutting oil enhanced with graphene platelet (GPL) additives has been developed to fulfill the need for environmentally benign cutting oils for high performance micro-machining applications. Carboxyl-functionalized graphene platelets are used to enable stable GPL dispersion in the polar oil. Three oil formulations consisting of 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.15% GPL by weight are tested. The GPL-laden canola oil is first characterized based on its kinematic viscosity, thermal conductivity and coefficient of friction. Micro-turning tests are then performed to study the effect of GPL loading on the cutting temperature, cutting force, and the surface finish of the part. All tested loadings improve the cooling and lubricating properties of the canola oil. For cooling, this improvement is seen to increase with GPL loading. In the case of lubrication, there appears to be an optimal loading of around 0.10%. The presence of GPL also leads to a decrease in the surface roughness of the micro-machined surface but this improvement drops with increased GPL loading.