Effects of extreme pressure and anti-wear additives on surface topography and tool wear during MQCL turning of AISI 1045 steel

The paper presents an original study of the influence of extreme pressure and anti-wear (EP/AW) additives on the surface topography of double-phase steel during turning with different cooling media and variable flow rates. The obtained surface topographies were compared using frequency and fractal analyses for dry, minimum quantity cooling lubrication (MQCL), and MQCL + EP/AW methods. Results showed that the addition of phosphate ester-based additives to an active medium caused the formation of tribofilm on the tool-chip interface and thus a change in the lubricating properties by reducing friction. The tool wear and the formation of the thin-layered tribofilm were also incorporated. The application of the MQCL method with the EP/AW additives led to a decrease in particular surface topography parameters from 8 % to 38 % in comparison with the effects of dry cutting and from 6 % to 35 % in comparison with the effects of machining under MQCL conditions. An exception was the result obtained for the surface roughness height parameter Sp, which was higher than that obtained after the MQCL + EP/AW process for the lowest investigated feed per revolution f = 0.1 mm/rev. This observation was correlated with the uneven formation of the tribofilm on the machined surface. The phosphate ester-based additive used in the MQCL + EP/AW method contributed to achieving tool wear that was less than that obtained by the processes conducted under dry and MQCL conditions.