Experimental investigations into thermophysical, wettability and tribological characteristics of ionic liquid based metal cutting fluids

Abstract

Abstract In the present study, a novel cutting fluid has been prepared by using the combination of Ionic Liquids (ILs) and Nano-Particles (NPs) as lubricant additives in Jatropha Oil (JO) based vegetable oil. For this, six different ILs (i.e., immidazolium and ammonium-based) of 1 wt. % concentration were added with JO, and its thermo-physical properties (rheological, thermal, and wettability) were measured. Tetrabutyl ammonium bromide ionic liquid (IL4) has been found to result in the best lubricant additive out of all six ILs considered for the present work. Afterward, the effect of different NPs was investigated by adding Al2O3, ZrO2, and both NPs (i.e., Al2O3+ZrO2) in the JO + IL4 solution, and the experimental results show further improvement in the thermo-physical properties. The hybrid nanofluid s viscosity containing 1 wt.% concentration of Al2O3+ZrO2 NPs in the JO + IL4 is the highest compared to other samples. Thermal conductivity and wettability of hybrid nanofluid with 0.75 wt. % of Al2O3+ZrO2 NPs are improved by 14.03 % and 28.5 %, respectively, as compared to JO + IL4. Further, the tribological test results show the JO + IL4 + 0.5 % Al2O3 gives the least friction force among the prepared cutting fluids.