An experimental investigation on the process parameters influencing machining forces during milling of carbon and glass fiber laminates

Abstract

Milling is the most feasible machining operation for producing slots and keyways with a well defined and high quality surface. Milling of composite materials is a complex task owing to its heterogeneity and the associated problems such as surface delamination, fiber pullout, burning, fuzzing and surface roughness. The machining process is dependent on the material characteristics and the cutting parameters. An attempt is made in this work to investigate the influencing cutting parameters affecting milling of composite laminates. Carbon and glass fibers were used to fabricate laminates for experimentations. The milling operation was performed with different feed rates, cutting velocity and speed. Numerically controlled vertical machining canter was used to mill slots on the laminates with different cutting speed and feed combinations. A milling tool dynamo meter was used to record the three orthogonal components of the machining force. From the experimental investigations, it was noticed that the machining force increases with increase in speed. For the same feed rate the machining force of GFRP laminates was observed to be very minimal, when compared to machining force of CFRP laminates. It is proposed to perform milling operation with lower feed rate at higher speeds for optimal milling operation.