Experimental Investigation of Surface Integrity of End milled CFRP Composites

Abstract

In general, the quality of the surface produced during machining is affected by the process variables and the vibrations of the tool. The surface finish is affected by the undesired vibrations that occur especially when a rotating tool like drill/ milling cutter is involved. Machining of fiber reinforced composites plays a vital role in obtaining fine tolerances on their components so as to assemble and integrate them with the other components. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites are rapidly substituting the conventional materials as they meet high performance requirements due to their high specific stiffness, strength and corrosion resistance. In this study, the effect of process parameters on the dimensional accuracy and surface finish of the slots produced by end milling on CFRP laminate is studied. Experimental investigation is carried out to determine the relationship between spindle speed and feed which minimizes the surface roughness and delamination factor. The variation of the cutting forces involved is also studied in relation with the process variables to derive the regression equations.