DEVELOPMENT OF A CUTTING TOOL FOR COMPOSITES WITH THERMOPLASTIC MATRIX

Abstract

Fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites (FRTC) are becoming an increasingly important material for a wide range of applications. Thus, the demand for high performance tools for machining of this material is increasing. The main goal of the presented research results is to decrease cutting costs during trimming operations of thin plates and to increase the quality of machined composite materials by suitable shape, geometry and material of the cutting tool and by suitable cutting conditions. Statistical methods were used in order to obtain the control factors (cutting conditions) which are the most important for machining FRTC. Subsequently, an optimal adjustment of cutting conditions was identified. The paper is a brief summary of the cutting tool development. It includes important parts of tests and their results as well as some interesting findings implicit in experiments and measuring.