Effect of Pro-Ecological Cooling and Lubrication Methods on the Sharpening Process of Planar Blades Used in Food Processing

This work presents the results of an experimental study of the sharpening of planar technical blades used in the fish processing industry. Sharpening was carried out in the grinding process using several environmentally friendly methods of cooling and lubricating the machining zone (MQL method, CAG nozzle, hybrid method that is a combination of MQL and CAG methods, as well as WET flooding method as reference). The purpose of the research was to determine the possibility of reducing the negative environmental impact of the sharpening process of technical blades by minimizing the expenditure of coolant. The application of the MQL method and the hybrid MQL + CAG method provided a very good realization of the lubricating function so that the share of friction of dulled cutting vertices against the workpiece surface is reduced, which manifests itself in the reduction of the grinding force and the correlated grinding power. In the case of grinding under cooled compressed air delivery conditions, the average cutting force was as much as 91.6% higher (F = 22.63 N) compared to the result obtained for the most favorable flooding method, demonstrating the insufficient quality of the blade shaped under such conditions. A comprehensive comparison of test results on grinding power gain, cutting force and surface texture suggests that the most favorable sharpening results were obtained using the environmentally friendly MQL method of cooling and lubricating the grinding zone.