Production and usage of a vegetable oil biobased lubricant

Abstract Machining is one of the most important manufacturing processes used worldwide in the mechanical industry, and in order to optimize productivity, cutting fluids can be used in the process. Vegetable based fluids present low toxicity as well as good biodegradability and environmental sustainability; however, they also have low oxidative stability. Esters which are obtained from different vegetable oils, maintain the qualities mentioned and provide the required stability. This study presents a production and characterization of the raw materials, methyl esters and epoxidized methyl esters, as well as mainly the comparative evaluation of the cutting fluid formed by these esters with commercial fluids derived from minerals. The emulsions were evaluated regarding the mechanical properties resulting from their use in the process, registration of the temperature obtained during machining, the rough surface the dimensional deviation of the final product and also the evaluation of surface oxidation occurred on the pieces in the medium term. Emulsions containing 5% of esters (methyl and epoxidized methyl) seemed to be the best option, presenting less oxidation of machined pieces, lower working temperature during the process and better surface completion, demonstrating the best performance over the tested fluids.