Biodegradable Cutting Fluids Evaluation for Sustainable Machining Processes

Abstract

Sustainably selecting the best cutting fluid among alternatives, considering various weighted criteria or factors, is a complex problem encountered by machine operators in engineering workshops worldwide. The aim of this work is to utilize the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) decision-making model for biodegradable cutting fluids selection in a machine shop. The objectives of the work include carrying out a step-by-step process of the MAUT method on biodegradable cutting fluid alternatives. Therefore, this study utilizes the MAUT decision-making method for selecting the best biodegradable cutting fluid among a set of five (5) alternatives namely soybean oil, palm oil, polyalphaolefin, trimethylpropane trioleate and polyethylene glycol. The cutting fluids were evaluated based on criteria such as heat dissipation, stability, lubrication and cost-effectiveness. From the results, Polyalphaolefin is the best alternative, ranking first according to the global utility scoring. Therefore, Polyalphaolefin had a global utility score of 0.688, followed by Polyethylene Glycol which had a score of 0.600, followed by Trimethylpropane Trioleate which had a score of 0.588, followed by Soybean Oil which had a score of 0.363 and finally, Palm Oil which had a score of 0.263. This study provides a procedure for implementing the MAUT method of decision-making for cutting fluids selection within engineering workshops for sustainable machining practices.