Investigation on minimum quantity lubricant-MQL grinding of 100Cr6 hardened steel using different abrasive and coolant–lubricant types

Large quantities of coolant–lubricants are still widely used in the metal working industry, generating high consumption and discard costs and impacting the environment. Alternatives to current practices are getting more serious consideration in response to environmental and operational cost pressures. In the grinding process, promising alternatives to conventional dry and fluid coolant applications are minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) or near dry grinding process. Despite several researches, there have been a few investigations about the influence of different types of coolant–lubricants and grinding wheels on the process results. The current study aims to show the effects of the above parameters on grinding performance such as grinding forces and surface quality. The tests have been performed in presence of fluid, air jet and eleven types of coolant–lubricants, as well as, in dry condition. The grinding wheels employed in this study were vitrified bond corundum, resin bond corundum and vitrified bond SG wheels. The results indicate that SG wheels and MQL oils have potential for the development of the MQL process in comparison to vitrified and resin bond corundums and water miscible oils. Also, the lowest thermal damages, material side flow on the ground surface and wheel loading were generated by using the SG grinding wheel in MQL grinding process.