Experimental Investigation and Parametric Optimization on Hole Quality Assessment During Drilling of CFRP/GFRP/Al Stacks

Abstract

Carbon fiber/glass fiber-reinforced aluminum (Al) stacks are becoming predominant in the aerospace industries owing to their synergistic effect on numerous properties obtained by the combination of metal and composite material. This necessitates an investigation work to be performed on the machining characteristics of this special category of Al stacks. This research work focuses on studying the influence of cutting speed, feed rate and machining environment on thrust force, delamination and roughness of the finished surface of hybrid Al stacks. Dry, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), and cryogenic environments are considered in this work. The impact of cutting speed on the responses is observed to be negligible in contrast to the feed rate. Moreover, the drilling under cryogenic environment is found to improve the surface finish and mitigated the delamination, while drilling under MQL environment minimized the thrust force. Regression models are also developed to determine the output responses. High-quality holes in aluminum stacks can be obtained under cryogenic conditions over other machining environments as revealed by multi-objective optimization. © 2020, The Institution of Engineers (India).