Investigation of Optimum Grinding Condition Using cBN Electroplated End-Mill for CFRP Machining

Abstract

Recently, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have been used in various applications such as airplanes and automobiles. In CFRP molding, there are unnecessary portions on the outer area. Therefore, a machining process is required to remove them. Cutting and grinding are conventionally used in the finish machining of CFRPs. End-milling allows the removal of most of these portions. However, uncut fibers easily occur during end-milling. In contrast, a precise machined surface and edge are easily obtained using a grinding tool. Therefore, this research has developed a novel cubic boron nitride (cBN) electroplated end-mill that combines an end-mill and a grinding tool. This is a versatile tool that can cut and grind CFRPs by changing the direction of rotation of the tool. In this study, the effectiveness of the developed tool is investigated. First, the developed tool machined the CFRP by side milling. Consequently, cBN abrasives that were fixed on the outer surface of the developed tool did not detach in certain cutting conditions. Next, in order to generate a sharp edge on the CFRP and restrict the increase in the CFRP temperature with the cBN electroplated end-mill, the optimum abrasive size and grinding condition were investigated through the design of experiments. Moreover, the effectiveness of the developed tool was verified by comparing it with a conventional tool. As a result, smaller burrs and uncut fibers were observed after final machining with the developed tool under the derived optimum condition than those with conventional tools. However, the desired surface roughness could not be achieved as required by the airline industry. Therefore, oscillating grinding was applied. In addition, the formula of the theoretical surface roughness while using the developed tool was derived using the theory of slant grinding. As a result, the oscillating condition that led to the required surface roughness was obtained by theoretical analysis. In addition, the required value for the airline industry was achieved by oscillating grinding.