Abstract
Cutting fluids are crucial to machining, providing essential lubrication and thermal management during the process. Commercial Cutting Fluids are generally based on mineral oils, with emulsifiers and additives that are produced chemically. Green Cutting Fluid, which is generally based on biodegradable plant-based oils, shows its potential as an emerging alternative to Commercial Cutting Fluid. Green Cutting Fluid is eco-friendly, non-toxic, and sustainable. In the present work, the viability of a coconut oil-based Green Cutting Fluid has been evaluated to determine its suitability and effectiveness across a wide range of machining operations. This has been done with the aid of mimicking the surface roughness of various machining operations and evaluating the behaviour of Green Cutting Fluid over these surfaces. Ti-6Al-4V samples were prepared with unidirectional surface roughness in the 111 to 1350 nm range, the roughness range of various machining operations. The behaviour of the Green Cutting Fluid and Commercial Cutting Fluid, including their Wettability, Interfacial Tension, Surface Energy, and tribological lubrication effectiveness, were studied and compared. The results show that the Green Cutting Fluid has shown competitive performance in comparison with Commercial Cutting Fluid, showing its potential as a viable alternative to the Commercial Cutting Fluid. The article also includes a discussion on the sustainability and SWOT analysis of the Green Cutting Fluid. The work is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) 3, 11, 12, 13, 15.