Investigation of the effects of eco-friendly MQL system to improve the mechanical performance of WE43 magnesium alloys by the burnishing process

Today, manufacturers in the automotive and aerospace industries are the major contributors to carbon emissions. Reducing carbon emissions is critical for these industries. Doing so will both reduce energy consumption and enable environmentally friendly production. Therefore, the use of magnesium alloys has become important due to their high specific strength-to weight ratio and lightness. Since magnesium alloys cannot maintain their strength beyond a certain temperature, researchers have increased the strength of the WE series magnesium alloys by adding yttrium and rare earth elements up to temperatures exceeding 300 degrees C. Although the mechanical properties of the WE series alloys are suitable for high-temperature applications, these alloys are susceptible to corrosion and fatigue due to their high surface reactivity and low hardness. Therefore, this paper focused on preventing this problem by improving the surface quality and microhardness of WE series magnesium alloys. Ball burnishing is an efficient and cost-effective method of mechanical surface treatment. The analysis of surface quality and microhardness was carried out by applying the ball burnishing process in different media (dry and minimum quantity lubrication) and parameters (force, feed rate, passes) on WE43 magnesium alloy. The experimental design was planned using Taguchi L16 mixed orthogonal design. The parameters required for optimum surface quality and microhardness were determined by determining the signal-to-noise ratio of the results obtained. It was found that the force parameter is the most effective parameter affecting the surface quality and microhardness of the material. The predicted and experimental results show a high degree of convergence; therefore, this research can be successfully applied in the industrial sector, especially in the automotive industry.