Effects Of Vegetable Based Oils Lubricants In The Extrusion Of Aluminium

Four vegetable based oils were used as trial lubricants in the extrusion of aluminium billet through four different die geometries. The oils used were Castor oil Neem oil Jatropha oil and Cotton oil respectively. Results obtained from this work as compared with other works done in the area shows that these oils were found to be suitable as lubricants in the extrusion of aluminium because of the good surface finish that was achieved. Extrusion dies with semi die angles of 300 450 and 600 were constructed and case hardened and a hardness value of 612HV was obtained using the Vickers hardness testing machine which is in accordance with the minimum standard of 600HV. Precise surface roughness measurements were made quantitatively with the profilometer for all the geometries of billet extruded where round and triangular billets gave good surface finish for all the oils except for castor oil which gave the best surface finish. Based on previous experiments carried out on the extrusion of aluminium surface cracking were major defects caused by the rise in temperature as the process proceeds. This research experiments indicated that the surface quality is good even though the temperature may be high during extrusion process