Evaluation of Surface Roughness, Cutting Forces, and Tool Wear Under MQL Using Different Nano Cutting Oils in Milling Hastelloy C276 Superalloy

This paper presents a study on evaluating the effectiveness of nanofluid Minimum Quantity Lubrication (NF MQL) in machining Hastelloy C276 alloy—a difficult-to-cut material. The study compares NF MQL using different types of nanoparticles (Al2O3, MoS2, SiC, and GrP) with dry and pure MQL conditions in terms of surface roughness, cutting force components, and especially the variation of cutting forces over time. Experimental results indicate that the graphene-containing nanofluid MQL showed the most superior performance in terms of surface roughness Ra with 54.3% and 34% reduction, followed by MoS2 and Al2O3 nanofluid MQL conditions. Regarding the active cutting force Fa, Al2O3 nanofluid MQL achieves the largest reduction of about 18.4% and 22.1% when compared to dry and pure MQL, followed by GrP nanofluid MQL, MoS2 nanofluid MQL, and then SiC nanofluid MQL. Meanwhile, GrP nanofluid MQL shows the highest percentage of Fz reduction at about 13.4% and 26% when compared to the dry and pure MQL conditions, followed by MoS2 nanofluid MQL. Furthermore, the application of NF MQL also significantly improves tool life and extends about 36.4 ÷ 61.1% and 18.2 ÷ 50% compared to dry and pure MQL, respectively. Notably, through in-depth analysis of the variation of cutting forces, the study has elucidated the superior lubrication and cooling mechanism of the NF MQL method, confirming its potential application in machining advanced materials.