Performance evaluation of jatropha oil-based cutting fluid in turning AISI 1525 steel alloy

Applications of vegetable oil-based cutting fluids are becoming increasingly popular in machining due to negative environmental and health effects caused by the conventional mineral oils. However, suitability of lesser-known vegetable oils as cutting fluids has been minimally reported. This study was designed to investigate the performance of a lesser-known vegetable oils as cutting fluids in machining. The jatropha oil was characterized to identify phytochemical, physiochemical and lubricity related properties. The effects of jatropha oil emulsion on surface roughness, cutting temperature and chip formation in turning AISI 1525 steel alloy with coated carbide tool were investigated and compared with mineral oil. Taguchi L9 (33) orthogonal array was used for the experimental plan. In addition, multi-response optimization was conducted using Grey relational analysis (GRA). Jatropha oil-based cutting fluid achieved better performance than mineral oil-based cutting fluid in most machining conditions. The GRA results revealed that optimal multi-response performance of the jatropha oil-based cutting fluid and commercial mineral oil-based cutting fluid can be achieved using the same cutting velocity (355 m/min) and feed rate (0.10 mm/rev) but with varying depth of cut of 1.00 and 1.25 mm, respectively.