Effect of graphene nanosheets enriched cutting fluid on different machined regions during grinding of Inconel 718

Adding solid lubricants to cutting fluids can improve both lubrication and cooling. In grinding, where high specific energy can cause thermal damage, this combination is even more important. Understanding the tribological aspects of hybrid coolant (fluid + solid particles) on the grinding wheel-workpiece is key to evaluating its effectiveness. Thus, this work evaluated the use of multilayer graphene nanosheets enriched cutting fluid on Inconel 718 grinding with different cutting parameters and cooling lubrication conditions: dry, flood, traditional MQL and MQL with two graphene concentrations 0.05 and 0.01 wt%. The machining was performed with spark out cut, the surface was evaluated considering three regions at first contact in the cut, middle region and exit region. Adding 0.05 wt% graphene nanosheets stood out, leading to Ra roughness reduction of 30.8 %, 28.9 %, 22.9 % and 18.2 %, compared with dry, MQL, MQL 0.10 and flood, respectively and up to 57.7 % reduction in energy consumption. Different machined regions presented distinct surface quality to some extent and showed statistically significant variations in energy consumption. The exit region exhibited lower surface quality due to the accumulation of heat and plastically deformed material. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating surface characteristics across regions to better understand grinding process.