Effect of fibre content and laminate thickness on the drilling behaviour of GSFRP composites under varied drill geometries

Abstract

Since drilling is often a final operation during assembly, any defect due to drilling process results in the rejection of the part. The parts rejected at this stage will be an expensive loss. The machining performance can be improved only by proper selection of tool and cutting parameters. However, the effect of these parameters mainly depends on the mechanical properties of the fibres and the matrix as well as its response to the machining process, which in turn depend on the fibre position and fibre proportion. Therefore, this article is devoted to study the drilling performance of hybrid composites under varied drill and specimen configurations. The drill geometry is varied by selecting three drill diameters and three point angles, while the specimen configuration is varied by having two specimen thicknesses with three different percentages of volume fraction in each case. HSS drills at five different cutting speeds for experimentation was adopted on the laminates made of epoxy matrix and glass and satin fabrics as reinforcements. The relation between thrust force with respect to tool geometry, specimen thickness and cutting speed was established.