Technical Session 5:

Title:         Influence of Drilling Parameters Levels on Torque During Drilling of Fiber Reinforced Plastics Composites Using Response Surface Methodology
Authors:     N. S. Mohan, S. M. Kulkarni
Abstract:  Composite materials have become valuable construction materials in aerospace, defense and in recent years in automotive industry. Composite components are joined by mechanical fasteners, accurate, precise high quality holes need to be drilled to ensure proper and durable assemblies. Advantages of composites include high specific strength, high specific stiffness, fatigue strength and impact resistance, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, and good dimensional stability. Drilling is an important process for making and assembling components made from Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP). Various processes like conventional drilling, vibration assisted drilling and ultrasonic assisted drilling have been attempted in order to maintain the integrity of the material and obtain the necessary accuracy in drilling of GFRP. The drilling parameters and specimen parameters considered be are speed, feed rate, drill size and specimen thickness. A series of experiments are conducted using TRIAC VMC CNC machining center to relate the cutting parameters and material parameters on the torque. The measured results were collected and analyzed with the help of the commercial software package MINITAB14. The method could be useful in predicting thrust and torque parameters as a function of cutting parameters and specimen parameters. The main objective is to find the important factors and combination of factors influence the machining process to achieve low cutting low cutting thrust and torque. Results show that specimen thickness and drill size are significant parameters influencing the torque and spindle speed and feed rate have least influence and overlaid plot indicates a feasible and low region of torque is observed for medium to large sized drill bits for the range of spindle speed selected. Response surface contour plots indicate the sensitivity of the drill size and specimen thickness to the torque.

Keywords:  Composite materials, Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP). Drilling parameters, Contact moulding, Drilling Torque; Response surface analysis
Pages:        127-131

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