A Review: Development of MQL systems applied for metal cutting

Abstract

Today, there is a remarkable progress to reduce the costs of tooling, production, maintenance and to increase efficiency in metal cutting operations. The practice of machining process under dry cutting has become common in the metal machining industry, but it has weaknesess. To enhance dry cutting, the minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) technique has been introduced. MQL is a very promising solution as an alternative both to replace the conventional flood cooling and to enhance the dry cutting. MQL has been proven to be a superior mechanism with some benefits such as cost effective, worker safety, improved cooling performance, and improved system performance. MQL can be regarded as technology that connecting dry and conventional flood cooling. This study is aimed to discuss MQL including its development and its application in machining processes.