An aqueous
cutting fluid which can reduce the
impact on
working environment and the global environment, and can achieve both preventing precipitates from becoming a hard cake and keeping high dispersibility for
abrasive grains is provided. Such an aqueous
cutting fluid is obtained by a method comprising dispersing
abrasive grains (G) in an aqueous composition comprising a dispersion medium (M) containing a hydrophilic
alcohol compound such as
ethylene glycol, a lipophilic
alcohol compound such as
propylene glycol and water, and silica
colloid particles dispersed stably in the medium. The dispersion medium (M) is odorless and not flammable. The
abrasive grains (G) may settle out after a time, but they do not closely contact with one another, and therefore the resulting precipitates do not become a hard cake, which allows the re-dispersion and reuse of precipitated grains. The instant aqueous
cutting fluid is inherently low viscous, and the reduction of
viscosity owing to the
contamination of water and the increase of
viscosity owing to
contamination of shavings are both moderate. As a result, the
cutting fluid has a long life. And articles which have been
cut using the
cutting fluid can be washed with water. Further, as the dispersion medium (M) is a biodegradable low molecular weight
organic compound, a waste liquid from a process using the
cutting fluid can be disposed with an
activated sludge.