Experimental characterization of micro-drilling process using nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication

This paper discusses the experimental characterization of the micro-drilling process with the nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). The miniaturized drilling machine tool system is developed, and then a series of micro-drilling experiments are conducted in the cases of compressed air lubrication, pure MQL and nanofluid MQL. For the nanofluid MQL, nano-diamond particles having the diameter of 30 nm are used with the base fluids of paraffin and vegetable oils. For the micro-drilling process, an uncoated carbide twist drill having the diameter of 200 μm is used for making holes in the aluminum 6061 workpiece. The experimental results show that the nanofluid MQL significantly increases the number of drilled holes and reduces the drilling torques and thrust forces. In addition, the nanofluid MQL effectively eliminates remaining chips and burrs to enhance the quality of drilled holes.

► We firstly apply a nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) technique to the micro-drilling process.
► We conduct a series of micro-drilling experiments under varying lubrication conditions.
► Nanofluid MQL increases the number of drilled holes significantly.
► Nanofluid MQL reduces the drilling thrust forces and torques significantly.
► Nanofluid MQL enhances the drilled hole quality significantly.