5th International & 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2014) December

12th–14th, 2014, IIT

Guwahati, Assam, India

An Effective Method to Determine the Optimum Parameters for

Minimum Quantity Lubrication(MQL) Grinding
Dinesh Setti1*, Manoj Kumar Sinha1, Sudarsan Ghosh2, P Venkateswara Rao3
1*
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, 110016, dineshsetti@gmail.com
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, 110016, manoj.coet@gmail.com
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, 110016, sudarsan.ghosh@gmail.com
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, 110016, pvrao@mech.iitd.ernet.in

Abstract
The present trend in the manufacturing industry is to make machining processes more environment friendly by
adopting topractices such as dry machining, minimum usage of cutting fluid, and usage of non-reactivegas based
coolants etc., The concept of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL)has been suggested by several researchers long
time back as a cause for addressing the environmental, healthand economic issues related with conventional bulk
cooling processes. The MQL technique consists of atomizing a very small quantity of cutting fluid into fine droplets.
In other words, the effectiveness of MQL system depends on the quality of these droplets. This paper presents the
combination of microscopy and image processing techniques to ascertain the quality of droplets,by spraying the
MQL fluidonto an acrylic sheet. The raw droplet features arecaptured with stereo zoom microscopeandanalyzed by
measuring the average droplets size and number of droplets per unit area. Reliable MQL application is achieved
when the MQL parameters like the distribution of the droplets,the applied carrier gas air pressure, fluid flow rate,
nozzle tip to machining zone distance, and the angle at which the nozzle keptis optimal.The optimal MQL
conditions as obtained from theseresults have been usedto improve the grindability of Ti-6Al-4V.
Keywords: MQL, image processing, grinding, droplets

1 Introduction
It is well knownthat the heat produced during the
grinding process is very significant in terms of
component quality. Relatively high friction in grinding
causes heat generation, which leads to the thermal
damage; cooling and lubrication consequently play a
decisive role during grinding . Despite many advantages
of the cutting fluids in the machining processes, there is
serious concern about ecological and economic
problems. Hence, several researches demandedin the
last few years to minimize or even to eliminate the use
of cutting fluids. This objectiveleads to the
development/adaptation of sustainable alternativesfor
reducing the consumption of cutting fluids in
manufacturing processes. A large number of research
works on this field can be found in the literature
(Weinert et al.,2004). Techniques such as MQL, dry or
near-dry machining, cryogenic machining is being used,
especially in processes such as turning, drilling or even
milling.However, now a days, notable number of
researcherson track to experiment these things in
grinding process also. One such alternative technique is
being given more attention in grinding process is MQL.
Typically, an MQL system supplies about few
milliliters of cutting fluid per hour with pressurized air
or other supplemental gases, whereas a conventional
system supplies about several thousand ml/min cutting
fluid. The conventional flood supply system demands
more resources for operation, maintenance, and
disposal, and results in higher environmental and health
problems. The main benefits of MQL are the following
ones (Barczak et al.,2011): 1. Environmentally friendly
coolant delivery system: less waste disposal,
biodegradable fluids, no pollutants, reduced power
consumption; 2. Reduced hazard to operator health and
working environment; 3. No need for component
cleaning before further processing; 4. Cleaner and safer
work place; 5. No unwanted thermal shock for
workpiece and tool; 6. Reduced storage space
requirements; 8. No need for an expensive coolant.
From both ecological and economical point of view
MQL is highly desirable. However, MQL relatively new
concept in grinding processes and there is a lack of
information regarding the effectiveness of MQL
parameters in grinding. It is not yet possible to answer
questions such as: Which kind of cutting fluid performs
best with MQL? What should be the optimum standoff
distance between nozzle and grinding zone? What
should be the optimum flow rate? Therefore, it is hard
to say the success of MQL without counting the above
questions. Several number of publications explained the
realization of MQL application in grinding operation
and the summary is given in Table 1.

67-1
An Effective Method to Determine the Optimum Parameters for Minimum Quantity Lubrication(MQL) Grinding

Table 1 Summary of available literature on MQL application in grinding

MQL parameters
Author MQL Fluid Air Nozzle Objective
flow rate Spray
pressure distance
(ml/h) angle
(bar) (mm)
Nguyen et al.,2003 Soluble Coolant 9.6 3 80 30 F, SR, H, RS
da Silva et al.,2007 MQL oil 40 - 35 - SR, H, RS, M
Synthetic
Shen et al.,2008 oil,nanofluids,pure 30 - - - F, SR,G-Ratio,T
water
Tawakoli et al.,2009 MQL oil 66 4 - - F, SR, SM, CM
3, 4, 5,
Sadeghi et al.,2009 Veg. oil &synthetic oil 20 - 140 45 - F, SR, H, SM, M
6
Barczak et al.,2010 Synthetic oil 33 4 - - F, T, SR
2, 3, 4,
Sadeghi et al.,2010 Veg. &synthetic oil 15 - 140 50 - F, SR, H, SM, M
5, 6
20, Influence of nozzle position, air
Tawakoli et al.,2010 MQL oil 2, 3,4,7
50,100 pressure on MQL performance
Tawakoli et al.,2011 Various oils 100 4 80 15 F, SR, SM, CM
Barczak et al.,2011 Pure synthetic oil 33 4 - - F, SR, T
Morgan et al.,2012 Pure synthetic oil 33 4 - - T
Mao et al.,2012 Pure oil ,oil + water 60 6 - - F, SR, T, SM,M
Lee et al.,2012 Nanofluid 7.5 3.92 - - F, SR, SM
Mao et al.,2012 Al2O3 nanofluid 60 6 - - F,SR, T, SM
Oils with MoS2 micro
Kalita et al.,2012 150 4.13 - - SE, µ
particles
Paraffin oil with MoS2 SE, µ, M,G-
Kalita et al.,2012 150 4.13 - -
micro & nano particles ratio,T
Influence of MQL spraying direction,
2, 4, 6,
Mao et al.,2013 nanofluid 60 spraying distance, air pressure on
8
performance
60, 80,
Balan et al.,2013 MQL oil 2,4,6 F, SR, T, Droplet size & Velocity
100
F –Forces, SR – Surface roughness, SM – Surface Morphology, CM – Chip Morphology,T – Temperature,
H – Hardness, RS – Residual Stresses, M – Microstructure, SE – Specific energy,µ - Coefficient of Friction

From the literature it has been observed that many
researchers proved the applicability of MQL technique
in grinding. But, very few researchers considered the
account of optimal MQL parameters such as fluid flow
rate, carrying gas/air pressure, spraying angle, standoff
distances between the nozzle and grinding zone etc. The
competence of any aerosol spray system depends upon
the quality of the mist produced from the system, which
will significantly affected by the above mentioned
parameters. Number of droplets, droplets size and
distribution are the main parameters which governs the
mist quality.Tawakoli et al.(2010) studied the influence
of MQL parameters on grinding performance and their
results showed that the setting location of the nozzle is
an important factor and the efficient transportation of oil
droplets to the contact zone requires higher mass
flowrate of the oil mist towards the grains flat area and
‘longer deposition distance’ of an oil droplet.Mao et
al.(2013)also investigated the grinding performance of
nanofluid under different spraying parameters and they
concluded that: the air pressure is critical in order to
enhance the nanofluid mist to penetrate into the grinding
zone. The grinding forces, surface roughness, and
grinding temperature are decreased with the increase of
the air pressure. They also found that mist size is
increased with the increase of spraying distance and
mist velocity is decreased along the spraying direction.
Therefore, the grinding performance in the ‘shorter
spraying distance’ is better than that in the longer
spraying distance.
For an effective MQL system, Tawakoli et
al.(2010) and Mao et al.(2013)outcomes can be
summarize as :
• Nozzle location is an important factor

67-2
5th International & 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2014) December 12th–14th, 2014, IIT
Guwahati, Assam, India

• The spraying distance should be optimum with the increase of spraying distance but after this
• Higher air pressure is required optimum distance mist velocity is decreased and the
• Higher mass flow rate of mist complete
te mist is unable to reach the targeted surface.
surface
Based on thesenear optimum um conditions
conditions, droplets
quality may vary from fluid to fluid depends upon the
viscosity. In order to determine these optimum values
for new cutting fluid or concentration one has to do
extensive experimental work. Hence, in this paper we
presented the combination of microscopy and image
processing techniques to ascertainertain the quality of
droplets by measuring the average droplets size and
number of droplets per unit area in an easy easyapproach.
Moreover, force measurement method also used to
determine
ermine the optimum spraying distance.
In this work, we adopted the concept
conceptdeveloped by
Park et al.(2010) to collect and study the droplets Figure 2 Variation
ariation in force along with standoff
distribution. distance
2 Experimental Method
2.2. Droplets Quality
The experiments have been carried out in three
stages to determine the optimum spraying distance
distance, In order
rder to collect the droplets on targeted surface,
surface
droplets quality and nozzle position successively
successively. very slow table movement has been given (1m/min).
This movement remains same for all other experiments
and the standoff distance maintained as 72mm for all
experiments. The fluid flow rates varied from 50, 100,
150, 200, 250ml/h. At each flow rate the t droplets have
been collected on an acrylic surface and
an captured with
stereo zoom microscope. The captured images
converted into bitmap images. For identifying the edges
of the droplets, threshold operation has been performed.
For droplets analysis purpose, in ‘ImageJ’ software
‘analyze particles’ module has been used.The
used. general
procedure to calculate the droplet size and distribution is
presented in Figure 3.

Figure 1 Setup
etup for optimum distance
experiments

2.1. Optimum spray distance Microscopic Image

Indigenously developed MQL system was wasused to

spray the soluble oil with 1:20 ratio. The MQL droplets
were sprayed onto anacrylic sheet.. The set
set-up for MQL
spray experiment is shown in Figure 11. Kistler 9257B
dynamometer has been used to measure the force
exerted by the spray. Thehe standoff distance varied from Converted to bitmap
10mm to 150mm with 10mm interval,, at each distance, image using ImageJ
the flow rates varied from 50, 80, 100, 150, 200, 250
software
ml/h. All the experiments were conducted at an air
pressure of 8bar.
Figure2 shows the variation in force along with
standoff distance. It can be observed that at a distance of
72mm the MQL system is able to deliver maximum
force output. Because mist size is gradually increased

67-3
An Effective Method to Determine the Optimum Parameters for Minimum Quantity Lubrication(MQL) Grinding

iii. An angular position 15 degrees to the grinding

wheel centerline.
Image after
threshold
operation

Several positions of nozzle to overcome the

Figure 4Several
Number of Percentage Ebbrell et al.,2000)
air boundary effect (Ebbrell
droplets in Average area of area covered
measured area droplet in sq. by droplets
microns
Total area covered by 2
all 49 droplets in sq. A = π (r )
avg avg
microns r = 13.57µm
avg

Analyze Particle module output

Figure 3 Procedure to determine the droplets quality

Table 2 gives the summary of experimental results

conducted for the droplets quality.
It has been observed that, size of droplets incre
increases with
increase in flow rate.. For an efficient MQL system,
there should always be more number of droplets,
maximum surface area should be covered by fluid and
size of droplets should be minimum. Hence, form the
observed results it can be found that, for selected
soluble oil with 150ml/hl/h flow rate is able to generate
mist with good quality.

Table 2 Results of droplets quality experiments

MQL Number Average radius %Area

Flowrate of of droplets covered by
(ml/h) droplets (µm) droplets
50 359 13.31 20.62
100 557 14.34 37.13
150 749 15.39 57.45
200 355 16.07 29.72
250 247 17.00 23.14

Figure 5 Delivery of MQL mist with Tangential,

2.3. Nozzle Location Intermediate angular and intermediate positions
To overcome the influence of surrounding air
boundary by the cutting fluid, in literature researchers
suggested three possible nozzle locations. They are
are:
i. Tangential nozzle position
ii. An intermediate position where the nozzle was
raised above the area of reversed flow

67-4
5th International & 26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2014) December 12th–14th, 2014, IIT
Guwahati, Assam, India

In order to observe the mist reachability to the were conducted under

grinding zone, several images have been captured by
keeping the nozzle at above mentioned locations when
the wheel is rotating. From the captured images (Figure
5), it has been observed that, MQL is able to overcome
the surrounding air boundary at tangential and
intermediate angular positions. The reason for this can
be explained based on the Figure 6. Very near to
grinding zone, the effect of surrounding air boundary
can be overcome by high pressure jet, because the
distance to be travelled is minimumAway from grinding
zone, in order to take air boundary assistance, the nozzle
should be inclined in air flow direction
direction. But when the
workpiece length is more than the optimum nozzle
standoff distance, the tangentially ly positioned nozzle
may get disturbed by the work material.
nder three different environments: dry,
wet (soluble oil, 1:20 ratio),, MQL with soluble oil 1:20
ratio. Grinding forces were measured online using a
piezoelectric dynamometer (Kistler, Switzerland,
9257B), coupled to charge amplifier (Kistler,
Switzerland, 5070 multichannel) and computer data
acquisition dynoware software. For MQL system, the
optimum conditions mentioned in section 2 has been b
maintained. Moreover, the MQL flow rate has been
varied from 50-200ml/h. The ratio between tangential to
normal forces taken as the coefficient of friction. The
readings has been taken after 60 passes.
0.7
0.6

Coefficient of Friction
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
50.00 100.00 150.00
0.1
200.00 Dry Wet
0.0
Figure 6 Simulation studies of surrounding air
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17
Ebbrell et al.,2000)
boundary velocity direction (Ebbrell
Number of Passes
Figure 7 Variation in coefficient of friction with
Based on the above ove series of experiments, the number of passes
optimum parameters for the present MQL system can be
summarized as:
Nozzle standoff distance: 72mm From the Figure 7,, it can be observed that, MQL
Air pressure: Higher is desirable, 8bar with derived optimum flow rate condition has been able
MQL flow rate: 150ml/h to give better friction reduction nature than the other
Nozzle position: Intermediate angular position (15°) conditions.

3 Validation of Optimum conditions Conclusions

For validating the above mentioned optimum The following conclusions can be drawn from the
conditions, actual grinding experiments
eriments have been present work:
performed on a Chevalier Smart H1224 CNC Surface • The significant MQL parameters like, nozzle stand of
grinder with conventional SiC abrasive wheel on Ti Ti- distance, MQL flow rate in terms of droplets quality,
6Al-4V material to observe the anti-fric
frictional effect of nozzle location has been studied.
MQL system. The wheel was Silicon carbide grinding • The experimental technique to measure the droplet
wheel (Carborundum Universal Ltd., India, sizes and distribution for MQL combining
CG60K5V8). The size of the workpiece is microscopy and image processing analysis to be
70mmX70mmX15mm. mm. The size of th the wheel is successful.
340mmX50mmX127mm. To maintain the wheel • It has been observed that, size of droplets increases
topography uniform, dressing
ing operation was performed with increase in flow rate. Hence, form the observed
before every experiment with single point diamond results it can be found that, for selected soluble oil
dresser with the following parameters: dressing depth - with 150ml/h flow rate is able to generate mist with
wi
10µm, dressing lead - 100mm/min,/min, and number of good quality.
passes – 4. During the grinding operation, the wheel • Nozzle intermediate angular position (15°) able to
cutting speed maintained as15m/s,
m/s, work table speedas overcome the influence of surrounding air boundary
9m/min and given depth of cut is 5µm.
µm. The experiments by the cutting fluid.

67-5
An Effective Method to Determine the Optimum Parameters for Minimum Quantity Lubrication(MQL) Grinding
• The obtained optimum MQL conditions has been
validated by conducting the actual grinding
experiments.
References
Balan, A. S. S., Vijayaraghavan, L. and Krishnamurthy,
R. (2013), Minimum Quantity Lubricated Grinding of
Inconel 751 Alloy, Materials and Manufacturing
Processes, Vol. 28, pp. 430-435.
Barczak, L. M. and Batako, A. D. (2011), Application
of Minimum Quantity Lubrication in Grinding,
Materials and Manufacturing Processes, Vol. 27, pp.
406-411.
Barczak, L. M., Batako, A. D. L. and Morgan, M. N.
(2010), A study of plane surface grinding under
minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions,
International Journal of Machine Tools and
Manufacture, Vol. 50, pp. 977-985.
Brinksmeier, E., Heinzel, C. and Wittmann, M. (1999),
Friction, Cooling and Lubrication in Grinding, CIRP
Annals - Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 48, pp. 581-
598.
da Silva, L. R., Bianchi, E. C., Fusse, R. Y., Catai, R.
E., França, T. V. and Aguiar, P. R. (2007), Analysis of
surface integrity for minimum quantity lubricant—MQL
in grinding, International Journal of Machine Tools and
Manufacture, Vol. 47, pp. 412-418.
Ebbrell, S., Woolley, N. H., Tridimas, Y. D., Allanson,
D. R. and Rowe, W. B. (2000), The effects of cutting
fluid application methods on the grinding process,
International Journal of Machine Tools and
Manufacture, Vol. 40, pp. 209-223.
Kalita, P., Malshe, A. P., Arun Kumar, S., Yoganath, V.
G. and Gurumurthy, T. (2012), Study of specific energy
and friction coefficient in minimum quantity lubrication
grinding using oil-based nanolubricants, Journal of
Manufacturing Processes, Vol. 14, pp. 160-166.
Kalita, P., Malshe, A. P. and Rajurkar, K. P. (2012),
Study of tribo-chemical lubricant film formation during
application of nanolubricants in minimum quantity
lubrication (MQL) grinding, CIRP Annals -
Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 61, pp. 327-330.
Lee, P.-H., Nam, J., Li, C. and Lee, S. (2012), An
experimental study on micro-grinding process with
nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (MQL),
International Journal of Precision Engineering and
Manufacturing, Vol. 13, pp. 331-338.
Mao, C., Tang, X., Zou, H., Huang, X. and Zhou, Z.
(2012), Investigation of grinding characteristic using
nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication, International
Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing,
Vol. 13, pp. 1745-1752.
Mao, C., Tang, X., Zou, H., Zhou, Z. and Yin, W.
(2012), Experimental investigation of surface quality for
minimum quantity oil–water lubrication grinding, The
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, Vol. 59, pp. 93-100.
Mao, C., Zou, H., Huang, X., Zhang, J. and Zhou, Z.
(2013), The influence of spraying parameters on
grinding performance for nanofluid minimum quantity
lubrication, The International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 64, pp. 1791-1799.
Morgan, M. N., Barczak, L. and Batako, A. (2012),
Temperatures in fine grinding with minimum quantity
lubrication (MQL), The International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 60, pp. 951-
958.
Nguyen, T. and Zhang, L. C. (2003), An assessment of
the applicability of cold air and oil mist in surface
grinding, Journal of Materials Processing Technology,
Vol. 140, pp. 224-230.
Park, K.-H., Olortegui-Yume, J., Yoon, M.-C. and
Kwon, P. (2010), A study on droplets and their
distribution for minimum quantity lubrication (MQL),
International Journal of Machine Tools and
Manufacture, Vol. 50, pp. 824-833.
Sadeghi, M. H., Hadad, M. J., Tawakoli, T., Vesali, A.
and Emami, M. (2010), An investigation on surface
grinding of AISI 4140 hardened steel using minimum
quantity lubrication-MQL technique, International
Journal of Material Forming, Vol. 3, pp. 241-251.
Sadeghi, M. H., Haddad, M. J., Tawakoli, T. and
Emami, M. (2009), Minimal quantity lubrication-MQL
in grinding of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy, The
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, Vol. 44, pp. 487-500.
Shen, B., Shih, A. J. and Tung, S. C. (2008),
Application of Nanofluids in Minimum Quantity
Lubrication Grinding, Tribology Transactions, Vol. 51,
pp. 730-737.
Tawakoli, T., Hadad, M., Sadeghi, M. H., Daneshi, A.
and Sadeghi, B. (2011), Minimum quantity lubrication
in grinding: effects of abrasive and coolant–lubricant
types, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 19, pp.
2088-2099.
Tawakoli, T., Hadad, M. J. and Sadeghi, M. H. (2010),
Influence of oil mist parameters on minimum quantity
lubrication – MQL grinding process, International
Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, Vol. 50,
pp. 521-531.
Tawakoli, T., Hadad, M. J., Sadeghi, M. H., Daneshi,
A., Stöckert, S. and Rasifard, A. (2009), An
experimental investigation of the effects of workpiece
and grinding parameters on minimum quantity
lubrication—MQL grinding, International Journal of
Machine Tools and Manufacture, Vol. 49, pp. 924-932.
Weinert, K., Inasaki, I., Sutherland, J. W. and
Wakabayashi, T. (2004), Dry Machining and Minimum
Quantity Lubrication, CIRP Annals - Manufacturing
Technology, Vol. 53, pp. 511-5
67-6