The Performance of Hexagonal Boron Nitride as an Additive in the Bio-based Machining Lubricant

Recently, bio-based oil was used as industrial lubricant due to the increasing consideration on environment effect and health issues and in order to replace the usage of petroleum-based oil. The modified vegetable oil exhibit excellent lubrication and tribological performances when compared to the petroleum-based oil. In this study, the crude jatropha oil was modified via chemical modification process and enhanced by hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) particles. hBN were varied at 0.05wt.% (MJO5a), 0.1wt.% (MJO5b) and 0.5wt.% (MJO5c). The modified jatropha oil (MJO5) and blended MJO5 with hBN particles were evaluated on the machining performances in terms of cutting force, cutting temperature and chip thickness. All samples were compared with commercially synthetic ester, SE. The results show that the addition of 0.05wt.% of hBN in MJO5 exhibit better anti-wear and anti-friction ability that significantly influenced the machining performances. This study presented that MJO5a is a sustainable candidate to replace SE as bio-based metalworking fluid.