The objective of this work is to determine the influence of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) parameters on flank wear during face milling. Furthermore, the values of each factor in which the MQL resulted to be effective were determined. A designed experiment with two level, three factor and two replicas was used to test tool wear on P45 grade inserts at relatively high cutting speed (~900 m/min) on steel AISI 1045. A commercial MQL system was used with vegetable base lubricant non soluble in water. Results show that amount of lubricant and vertical angle are key factors that affects the effectiveness of the process. A response surface equation was obtained in order to determine the zones in which the factors resulted in the lowest tool wear. A flank wear decrease of 7 times, respect to the maximum observed, was found by using low level of air flow, low level of vertical angle and high level of lubricant.

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