Eco-friendly grinding: exploring the potential of volatile corrosion inhibitors

V-active VCI® is a new class of corrosion inhibitors that utilize water as a propagation medium, enabling the development of cutting fluids with the addition of such inhibitor. Consequently, in addition to the necessary characteristics of a cutting fluid, they are capable of providing corrosion protection for both the metal workpiece and the machine, thereby avoiding the use of intermediate protective oils and subsequent degreasing, reducing the number of process steps, and lowering environmental impact. Additionally, the fluids in question pose no risks to humans and are biodegradable. Furthermore, the minimum quantity lubrication technique combined with wheel cleaning has been yielding excellent results for the grinding process. These results stem from various factors: quality of the produced workpiece, reduced environmental impact, preservation of operator health, and reduction of production costs. Therefore, in the present study, it was found that incorporating the benefits of V-active VCI® into the minimum quantity lubrication technique with cleaning brings excellent results for the grinding process. The performance of a base fluid and two fluids with corrosion inhibitor was compared in the grinding process of AISI 4340 steel with aluminum oxide wheel using the MQL technique (with and without wheel cleaning), comparing with the results obtained by the same fluids in conventional lubri-cooling. The tests evaluated: surface roughness, roundness errors, wheel diametral wear, power consumption, acoustic emission, cost analysis, and pollution. The results show that grinding using cutting fluids with volatile corrosion inhibitors was beneficial to the process for all three lubri-cooling conditions.