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Evaluations of vegetable oil-based as lubricants

for metal-forming processes

Article in Industrial Lubrication and Tribology · August 2008

Impact Factor: 0.44 · DOI: 10.1108/00368790810895178

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Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Emerald Article: Evaluations of vegetable oil-based as lubricants for
metal-forming processes
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir, Michael Bolaji Adeyemi

Article information:
To cite this document: Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir, Michael Bolaji Adeyemi, (2008),"Evaluations of vegetable oil-based as
lubricants for metal-forming processes", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 60 Iss: 5 pp. 242 - 248
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Evaluations of vegetable oil-based as lubricants
for metal-forming processes
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Nigeria, and
Michael Bolaji Adeyemi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess lubricating performances of selected locally produced vegetable oil-based lubricants with a view to
utilizing them as a possible alternative to petroleum-based lubricants in metal-forming processes.
Design/methodology/approach – The ring compression testing and twin disks upsetting testing methods were employed.
Findings – The results obtained from these two tests showed that the red palm oil performed better than others at room temperature, followed by
sheabutter oil, while palm kernel oil performed the least. High-temperatures compression ring tests gave sheabutter oil lower values of friction
coefficients than red palm oil.
Research limitations/implications – Further work should be done on numerous vegetable oil-based lubricants. Also those that show promising
performance could be further investigated with locally available additives.
Practical implications – These are numerous since increase in environmental interest has resulted in a renewed interest in vegetable oil-based lubricants.
Originality/value – The research work has broken new ground in finding applications for environmentally friendly lubricants in various areas of metal-
forming processes.

Keywords Lubrication, Lubricant oils

Paper type Research paper

Introduction Types of metal forming lubricants in commercial uses can

Metal forming lubricants are applied (Schey, 1983) to the tool
work interface in many metal forming operations, so as to
reduce friction and wear which generally affect tool life, metal
flow, energy consumption, heat evolution and surface finish.
Lubricants used in metal forming processes such as metal
drawing, extrusion and rolling must develop a very thin
adsorbed film, which does prevent metal to metal contact under
high pressure encountered in these processes, involving a
condition of boundary lubrication. Metal forming lubricants
(Bastian, 1968) must in addition to the above provide
separation/protection of work piece/tool surfaces, cooling
effects of work piece/tool, prevention of metal pick-up
welding, spot seizure during forming, acting as a fluid carrier
and provision of fluid hydraulic action. Beside the usefulness in
performance functions given above, the forming lubricants
should also possess certain practical service properties such as
prevention of corrosion or staining of work piece/dies, non-toxic
and free of odour vapours, good service stability and economic
service life. In choosing appropriate metal forming lubricants,
considerations must be given to types of forming processes,
temperature of working, types of work materials, ease of
application and cost.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0036-8792.htm
be classified (Bastian, 1968) as follows:
.
aqueous dispersions (soap/water type, soap/fat emulsions,
soluble oil emulsions, etc.);
.
oil type fluids (mineral/fat oils, chemical active oils, oil/
wax fluids);
.
solids lubricants (oxides, phosphate, derived chemical
solutions, etc.); and
.
metallic solids (hot-dipped or sprayed coatings of copper,
tin, lead, etc.).
The ring compression test provides (Male and Cockroft, 1964/
1965) a technique of studying the frictional behaviour of metals
and their alloys over a wide range of test conditions, such as
deformation temperature, degree of deformation, rate of
deformation, lubricants, etc. (Tsukuda et al., 1979a) used the
ring compression test to examine the variables such as specimen
size, thickness of lubricant film, surface roughness of specimen
and die, compression speed on the friction factor using 2014
aluminum alloy. The result showed that the surface roughness
and film thickness have the most important effect on the friction
coefficients with other having little effect. Tsukuda et al. (1979b)
further used the ring compression test to evaluate lubricities of
various kinds of lubricants by comparing the respective friction
coefficients for hot forging of 2014 aluminium alloy at 250-4508C
and 10-50 per cent height reduction.
The twin disk upsetting test (Ramaraj and Shaw, 1985) is a
simple and effective technique for evaluating by comparing two

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

60/5 (2008) 242– 248 The authors wish to acknowledge the Institute of Technology of Kwara
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0036-8792] State Polytechnic for granting permission to carry out these tests in their
[DOI 10.1108/00368790810895178] laboratories.

242
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248

lubricants in a single test. The basic operational principle is based
on the fact that when pairs of initially identical disks are
lubricated at the upper and lower dies by two different lubricants
and are compressed simultaneously together, it is found that the
interface between the two disks is dependent on the two die faces.
The ratios of the degrees of the central deformation thicknesses of
the disks provide a sensitive measure of frictional differential
resistance on the upper and lower die surfaces and may be used to
compare and evaluate lubricants performances.
Methodology
Compression ring test rig
The compression rig, (Figure 1) consists of a grounded and
polished punch, a cylindrical mild steel container with three
equispaced holes to accommodate 500 W electric heater rods,
which extends to the grounded mild steel base, containing a
threaded hole to accommodate a thermocouple. A bimetallic
thermostat is positioned on the cylindrical steel container, so
as to regulate the temperatures during high-temperature ring
compression tests.
Specimens preparation
The compression ring and twin disk specimens were
machined to appropriate sizes from commercially pure
aluminum rod (approximate 99.5 per cent Al plus other
trace elements).
The compression ring specimens were 24 mm outside
diameter, 12 mm inside diameter and 8 mm height, so as to

Figure 1 The compression rig

6.0
16.0

160.0

10.0

10.0 40.0

90.0
135.0
10.0

5.0

ø20.0 (b)
ø150.0
ø70.0 ø160.0
ø60.0
ø50.0
55.0

ø170.0

ø4.0

(a)

243
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi
achieve the 6:3:2 ratio, as recommended (Male and Cockroft,
1964/1965) for compression ring specimens. The cylindrical
aluminum specimens were 15 mm in diameter (d) and 7.5 mm
in height (h) to give an aspect ratio (D) of h/d ¼ 0.5 for the
twin disk up setting test (Ramaraj and Shaw, 1985).
All the test specimens were grounded and polished, using a
twin-wheel model struers polishing machine, followed by
stress-relief annealing at 4008C, so as to eliminate the
specimens’ machining residual stresses. All the test specimens
were thoroughly cleaned with acetone before any test. These
three operations made on the test specimens were necessary,
so as to ensure that the specimens were smooth, stress-free
and clean. The vegetable oil-based lubricants assessed were:
black-soap, groundnut oil, palm kernel oil, red palm oil, and
sheabutter oil.
All the lubricants were locally sourced and their properties
as investigated by (Afeti et al., 1991) and (Abdulqadir, 2005)
are presented in Table I.
Experimental methods
Ring compression test
The test specimens and the surfaces in contact with the
specimens were thoroughly cleaned with acetone. The test
specimens were carefully lubricated with uniform thickness of
each lubricant during each test, and later positioned centrally
on the mild steel base of the ring compression rig. The rig was
also centrally positioned on a 600 kN hydraulic testing
machine with a dial gauge indicator on a magnetic base for
recording the compression/deformation of the test specimens.
The internal and external diameters of the ring compression
specimens were initially measured using a vernier caliper of
accuracy of 0.02 mm. All the test specimens were compressed
at a constant strain rate 0.01426/min throughout the tests.
The compression as indicated by the dial gauge indicator was
stopped at every 5 per cent deformation of the test specimen.
After each 5 per cent compression of the test specimen, the
change internal diameters were measured to determine
the percentage on change of internal diameters. After each
5 per cent compression, the contact surfaces were cleaned, re-
lubricated and the test repeated until half the original height
of test specimens was achieved. The whole test procedure was
repeated for other vegetable oil-based lubricants investigated.
High-temperatures ring compression tests up to 1508C were
conducted, using red palm oil and sheabutter oil as lubricants,
and with the aids of three 500 W heater rods, chrome/alumel
thermocouple with bimetallic thermostat to control the rig’s
temperature. The rig’s controlled temperatures were indicated
and recorded on a chart recorder with the thermocouple
connected through the cold junction, maintained at ice
temperature 08C to the chart record. The ring compression
tests were conducted similar to the room temperature tests at
Table I Experimental values of various oil properties
Property Red palm oil k
3
Density (Kg/m ) 906
Kinematic viscosity (centistokes) 201.5 (308)
Melting point (8C) 18-22
Pour point (8C) 20
Flash point (8C) 255
Sources: Abdulqadir (2005 – k); Afeti et al. (1991 – j)
244
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248
varying high-test temperatures up to 1508C, using red palm
and sheabutter oils.
Twin disk upsetting test
Two cylindrical aluminum disks were thoroughly cleaned with
acetone and placed on each other. The reference lubricant
(i.e. red palm oil) which was identified by ring compression
test as the best lubricant at room temperature test, was
applied on the upper surface of one of the disks, while one of
the other lubricants was applied on the lower surface of the
other disk in contact. The combined differently lubricated
disk specimens were then centrally positioned on the Denison
hydraulic machine’s compression rig, whose contact surfaces
were initially thoroughly cleaned with acetone.
The initial height, h, of each of the aluminum disks was
measured, using a micrometer of accuracy of 0.01 mm, and the
new heights of disks h1 and h2 were again measured, after each
compression to 5 per cent reduction in combined height until
the original combined height was reduced by 50 per cent. Other
test lubricants and the reference lubricant were applied in turns
to the lower surfaces of the combined specimens, so as to
compare the reference lubricant with them and itself. After each
5 per cent compression, the test specimens and lower and upper
surfaces of the compression ring were cleaned with acetone
before each test. The centre height ratios h1/h2 at various
reduction ratio of {1 2 ðh1 þ h2 =2h0 Þ} were computed for the
reference lubricant tested against itself and other lubricants
investigated.
Results and discussions
Figure 2 shows the per cent change in the internal diameter
of the compression ring, DD, with the percentage
deformation for the aluminum specimens for unlubricated
or dry condition and under various vegetable oil-based
lubricants investigated. For low values of friction coefficient,
the bore diameter change, DD, increases with per cent
deformation, as indicated for red palm oil, sheabutter oil
and black soap by curves below the horizontal axis, while for
higher values of friction coefficients, the bore diameter
change, DD, decreases with per cent deformation for curves
above the horizontal axis.
By comparing and extrapolating for 40 per cent deformation
between the present experimental curves (Abdulqadir, 2005) at
room temperature and the calibration curves (Male and
Cockroft, 1964/1965) the friction coefficient for each
lubricant and under unlubricated condition was
evaluated and given in Table II. From the friction coefficient
values obtained, it can be seen that red palm oil is the
best, followed by sheabutter oil, black-soap, groundnut oil and
Sheabutter oil j Groundnut oil j Palm kernel oil j
878 872 876
187.4 (358) 58.1 (308) 47.9 (308)
24-30 5-11 22-26
28 8 25
261 317 242
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248

Figure 2 Graph of DD vs deformation for various lubricants

30.00

No lubricant - 1

25.00 Palm kernel oil - 2

Groundnut oil - 3 1
Black soap - 4
Change in internal diameter of ring. D (per cent)
20.00
Sheabutter oil - 5
2
Red palm oil - 6
15.00
3

10.00

5.00

0.00 4
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00
5
– 5.00
6

– 10.00
Deformation (per cent)

Table II Calculated values of friction coefficient, m at 40 per cent
deformation for each lubricant
Lubricants
No lubricant
Palm kernel oil
Groundnut oil
Black soap
Sheabutter oil
Red palm oil
palm oil in that order for the ring compression tests at room
temperature (308C).
From the twin disks upsetting tests and using red palm oil
as reference, further confirmed the above stated descending
order of effectiveness of lubricants as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 shows a plot of centre height ratios with reduction
ratios for other lubricants and unlubricated condition
investigated with red palm oil as reference lubricant. Values
of the centre height ratios for all the lubricants investigated
decrease linearly with increasing reduction ratios. The ratios
h1/h2 obtained at various degrees of reduction ratios, thus
provide a sensitive measure of frictional differential resistance
(friction coefficient between the upper and lower surfaces),
and so used to compare and evaluate lubricants performances.
From Figure 3, theoretically the topmost line, indicating
when red palm oil was applied on both lower and upper
surfaces should be horizontal, but the result obtained
indicated an inclined line to the horizontal axis, which may
be attributed (Tsukuda et al., 1979a) to possible differential
lubricant film thickness and unequal values of roughness
m number of the upper and lower contact surfaces of the
0.132 compression rig used.
0.124 Figures 4 and 5 show the experimental curves of per cent
0.089 decrease on internal diameters of the ring with per cent
0.053 deformation, respectively, for sheabutter oil and red palm oil
0.050 at various indicated temperatures up to 1508C. These curves
0.039 show the performances of these two lubricants, deteriorating
with increasing temperatures.
Figure 6 shows the plot of the extrapolated friction coefficient
values at 40 per cent deformation with increase in temperatures.
The results indicate that as the test temperatures are increased,
the values of the friction coefficient are increased for each
lubricant investigated, and hence each lubricant’s performances
are found to deteriorate or breakdown (Bastian, 1968), as
obtained for higher temperatures. From Figure 6, it can be seen
clearly that the values of the friction coefficients for sheabutter
oil are found to be less than that of red palm oil at higher
temperatures, except at room temperature.
The comparative results of sheabutter oil exhibit better
lubricating performance than red palm oil at higher
temperatures based on the friction coefficients obtained. This
result is in agreement with the evaluations of the characteristic
operating properties of locally available lubricants investigated
during cold drawing of annealed mild steel rods, in which
sheabutter oil is recommended (Adeyemi, 1989) as a possible
alternative substitute to the imported soap-based lubricant now
used in cold drawing operations.

245
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248

Figure 3 Graph of centre height ratio, C vs reduction ratio, r for various lubricants
1,200

1,000
6

5
0,800
Centre height ratio, C = h1/h2
4

3
0,600

0,400 1
No lubricant - 1
Palm kernel oil - 2
Groundnut oil - 3
0,200 Black soap - 4
Sheabutter oil - 5
Red palm oil - 6

0,000
0,000 0,100 0,200 0,300 0,400 0,500 0,600
Reduction ratio, r {r = 1 – [(h1 + h2)/2h0]}

Figure 4 Graph of DD vs deformation for sheabutter oil at different temperatures

16.00
Sheabutter oil at room temp. - 1
Sheabutter oil at 55˚C - 2
14.00 Sheabutter oil at 70˚C - 3
8
Sheabutter oil at 85˚C - 4
Sheabutter oil at 100˚C - 5
12.00 7
Sheabutter oil at 110˚C - 6
Sheabutter oil at 130˚C - 7 6
10.00 Sheabutter oil at 150˚C - 8
Change in internal diameter of ring, D

5
8.00 4

3
6.00

4.00

2.00

0.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00

–2.00
1

–4.00
Deformation (per cent)

246
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248

Figure 5 Graph of DD vs deformation for red palm oil at different temperatures

20.00 Red palm oil at Room Temp. - 1

Red palm oil at 55˚C - 2
Red palm oil at 70˚C - 3
8
Red palm oil at 85˚C - 4
7
15.00 Red palm oil at 100˚C - 5
6
Red palm oil at 110˚C - 6 5
Red palm oil at 130˚C - 7
4
Red palm oil at 150˚C - 8
Change in internal diameter of ring, D

10.00
3

5.00

0.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00

– 5.00

– 10.00
Deformation (per cent)

Figure 6 Variation of coefficient of friction with temperature for sheabutter oil and red palm oil
0.16
Sheabutter oil, m
Red palm oil, m
0.14

0.12
Friction coefficient, m

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Temperature (˚C)

247
 Lubricants for metal-forming processes
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir and Michael Bolaji Adeyemi
Conclusion
The following conclusions can be deduced from the present
research:
.
From the vegetable oil-based lubricants investigated and
evaluated friction coefficient value of each lubricant, red
palm is found to perform best at room temperature
followed by sheabutter oil, black soap, ground nut oil and
palm kernel oil in that order as determined experimentally
by the ring compression test and confirmed
experimentally by the twin disks upsetting test.
.
The values of the friction coefficients obtained from the
high-temperature ring compression tests for sheabutter oil
beyond temperatures above the room temperature are
found to be lower than that of red palm oil, thus giving
sheabutter oil a better overall performances as a metal
forming lubricant to support the recommendation made
by Adeyemi (1989).
References
Abdulqadir, B.L. (2005), “Assessment of vegetable oil-based
lubricants for metal forming processes”, M. Eng. Research
Project Report, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.
Adeyemi, M.B. (1989), “Experimental evaluation of the
characteristic operating properties of local lubricants for
possible application in an industrial cold-drawing process”,
Nigerian Journal for Technological Development, Vol. 1 No. 2,
pp. 122-7.
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248
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Volume 60 · Number 5 · 2008 · 242 –248
Afeti, G.M., Ezeji, C.O. and Aiyedun, P.O. (1991), “Some
transport and thermodynamic properties of selected edible
oils”, ASME Transactions, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 39-48.
Bastian, E.L.H. (1968), “Lubrication principles in metal
drawing, forming and rolling”, in O’Connor, J.J. (Ed.),
Standard Handbook of Lubrication Engineering, McGraw-Hill
Book Co., New York, NY.
Male, A.T. and Cockroft, M.G. (1964/1965), “A method for
the determination of the coefficients of friction of metal
under bulk plastic deformation”, Journal of the Institute of
Metals, Vol. 93, p. 38.
Ramaraj, T.C. and Shaw, M.C. (1985), “A new method of
evaluating metal-working lubricants”, Transactions of the
ASME, Vol. 107, pp. 216-19.
Schey, J.A. (1983), Tribology in Metalworking – Friction
Lubrication and Wear, American Society of Metals, Metal
Park, OH.
Tsukuda, M., Takada, K. and Ozaki, K. (1979a), “Effect of
test conditions on measuring friction factor by ring
compression”, Journal of Japanese Institute of Light Metals,
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Tsukuda, M., Takada, K. and Ozaki, K. (1979b), “Evaluation
of several lubricants for aluminium alloy forging”, Journal of
Japanese Institute of Light Metals, Vol. 93 No. 9, pp. 403-9.
Corresponding author
Babatunde Lawal Abdulquadir can be contacted at:
blabdulqadir@yahoo.com