ABSTRACT

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite materials are alternative to

conventional metallic materials in many aspects due to their high modulus elasticity to weight
ratio, high fatigue strength, light in weight and good corrosion resistance. Machining of
composite materials is performed to obtain the desirable geometrical tolerances and
dimensional accuracy, where composite materials are riveted or fastened to conventional
materials. It is a challenge to machine the carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite due to
their anisotropic properties . The present work is focused to know the influence of milling
process parameters on milled surface quality of CFRP composites. Consider input factors are
spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut where output responses are surface roughness and
delamination factor. All experiments were conducted on CNC milling machine. Taguchi L9,
3-level orthogonal array is considered for experimentation. Optimal process parameters are
validated by grey relational grade achieved by the grey relational analysis for multi
performance characteristics. Finally experimental results were also analysed by scanning
electron micrographs using SEM.
Keywords: Machinability, Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP), Composite machining
surface quality, Machining damage, Surface integrity.
 LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Description Pg. No.

2.1 Properties of selected commercial

Reinforcing fibers 17
3.1 Specifications of fiber reinforcement and
Thermosetting resin 23
4.1 Assignment of the levels to the factors 51
4.2 Milling parameters with their levels 53
4.3 Results of the experiments for Ra and S/N ratio 54

4.4 Response table for mean S/N ratio (Ra) 55

4.5 ANOVA table for Ra. 56
4.6 Conformation results for Ra 56
4.7 Results of the experiments for (FD) and S/N ratio. 58

4.8 Response table for mean S/N ratio (FD) 59

4.9 ANOVA table for FD 59
4.10 Conformation results for FD 60
4.11 Grey relational grade (GRG) table 62

4.12 S/N ratio and grey relational grade of performance

Characteristics 62
4.13 Response table of mean S/N ratio fo
Grey relational grade 63

4.14 ANOVA for grey relational grade 64

4.15 Results for the confirmation tests 64

 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Description PgNo.

1.1 Classification of composites 13

2.2 Carbon fibers 16

2.3 Tools and equipment of compressed hand layup method 18

2.4 Cutting tool geometry of end mill cutter 20

3.1 Carbon fiber lamination after fabrication 23

3.2 CFRP composite laminate fixed in milling machine 27

3.3 CNC milling machine 44

3.4 Delamination factor by using digital Vernier caliper 45

4.1 End milling operation was performed along the

Fiber or table/tool feed direction, x 51

4.2 Measuring of surface roughness values 54

4.3 Mean S/N graph for surface roughness 55

4.4 Interaction plot for surface roughness 55

4.5 Mean S/N graph for delamination factor 57

4.6 Interaction plot for delamination factor 57
4.7 Effect of process parameters on Grey relational grade 63

4.8 SEM picture of showing damage of CFRP 66

4.9 SEM micrograph showing better quality of CFRP 66

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER:- 1.INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1
1.2 Machinability of Composite Materials 2
1.3 Research Objectives 3
CHAPTER:- 2.LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites 11

2.1.1 Preface 11
2.2 Composite Materials 12
2.2.1 Classification of Composites 12
2.2.1.1 Metal matrix 13
2.2.1.2 Ceramic matrix 14
2.2.1.3 Polymer matrix 14
2.2.1.4 Polyester rasin 15
2.2.1.5 Carbon fibre 15
2.3 Characteristics 16
2.4 Manufacturing and processing of FRP composite 17
2.4.1 Compression moulding by hand lay-up process 17
2.5 Cutting Tool for Milling FRP Composites 18
2.5.1 Tool materials 18
2.5.2 Cutting tool geometry 19
2.6 Program of activities 21
CHAPTER:- 3.PROBLEM STATEMENT AND METHODOLOGY 22
3.1 Introduction 22
3.2 problem statement 22
3.3 Methodology 23
3.4 Fabrication of CFRP Composite Specimens 22
3.4.1 Selection of fibre reinforcement and matrix material 23
3.4.2 Manufacturing Methods 24
3.4.3 Manufacturing of test panels 25
3.4.4 Experimental Procedure 26
3.4.5 Volume fraction experiment 28
 3.5 Machinability of fiber reinforced polymer 28
3.6 Optimization of machining parameters 34
3.7 Machining of fiber reinforced polymer material 36
3.7.1 Machining 39
3.7.2 Significance of Machining 40
3.7.3 Types of Machining 40
3.7.3.1 Turning 40
3.7.3.2 Drilling 41
3.7.3.3 Milling 41
3.7.4 Problems Encountered in CFRP Machining 43
3.7.5 CNC milling machine 43
3.8 Delamination 44
3.9 Applications 45
CHAPTER:- 4.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF CFRP
COMPOSITE MACHINING 47
4.1 Introduction 47
4.2 Design of Experiments 48
4.2.1 Taguchi experimental design 49
4.2.2 Experimental layout andselection of machinability parameters 50
4.3 Surface roughness values 53
4.3.1 Optimization of individual Performance characteristics 53
4.3.1.1 Determination of optimal process parameters
for surface roughness 53
4.3.2 S/N ratio analysis for surface roughness (Ra) 54
4.3.3 ANOVA for surface roughness 56
4.3.4 Confirmation test for Ra 56
4.3.5 Determination of optimal process parameters for
delamination factor (FD) 58

4.3.6 Analysis of S/N ratio for delamination factor (FD) 59

4.3.7 ANOVA for delamination factor (FD) 59
4.3.8 Confirmation test for delamination factor (FD) 59
4.4 Optimal process parameter by using grey relational analysis 60
4.4.1 Grey Relational Analysis 60
4.4.2 Determination of optimal process parameters
for Grey relational grade 62
4.4.3 Analysis of S/N ratio for Grey relational grade 63
4.4.4 ANOVA for Grey relational grade 63
 4.4.5 Confirmation test for Grey relational grade 64
4.5 Machined surface topography analysis 65
4.5.1 Influence of process parameters on
Machined surface by SEM analysis 65
5. Conclusion 67
6. Future scope 67
7. Reference 68
 CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background

Advanced composite materials have been continuously engineered for a wide

mechanical, physical and functional performance. Indeed, their properties are still being
customized to the specific industrial and consumer product requirements. With a number of
breakthroughs in processing and fabrication techniques, novel composite materials offer
various advantages in applications where high performance is necessary. Among many types
of composite materials, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been attractive and
extensively used. As a matter of fact, conventional metallic materials have been largely
substituted by FRP composites in many cases. Typical examples of FRP composites’
applications include aerospace components (e.g. tails, wings, fuselages), racing car bodies
and chassis, sporting goods (e.g. bicycle frames, surf/snow boards), and marine parts (e.g.
hulls, decks). Easy process ability and cheap raw materials cost make them applicable for the
aforementioned structural and functional requirements.
FRP composites are notably known to be lighter, stronger, stiffer, and have a better
corrosion resistance over the metal alloys and their metal matrix composites (MMCs)
Counterparts. Their appealing properties can also be deliberately tailored to improve fire
resistance, thermal and electric insulation as well as sound absorption. These make them
desirable for non-structural products, in areas, such as the panel or acoustic wall applications.
Despite their excellent physical and mechanical performance, FRP composites are known for
their inherently poor machinability compared to that of monolithic materials.
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite material is a of two or more materials
namely matrix and reinforcement. Matrix is polymer resin andreinforcement is fiber.
Composite materials are one of the fast developing and highperformance advanced materials,
which are finding enormous application in manyfields now-a-days. It is due to their unique,
desirable and customizable properties.These properties are depending upon the properties of
each element, the bondingpresent in the composite, direction and form of fiber. Due to its
heterogeneousnature and potential applications, the essential requisite to understand the
issuesrelated to fabrication and machining of composite materials arises.

1
1.2 Machinability of Composite Materials
In common occurrence, many components made from FRP composites are
manufactured to near-net shapes. In spite of this, finishing steps that involve machining are
essential to meet the desired dimensional requirements and/or to improve the geometrical
tolerances of a previously formed shape. Furthermore, in conjunction with advances in design
techniques, intricately shaped composite products or components can only be attained
through machining processes. However, as the machining process is mostly performed at the
final stage of composites manufacturing, proper care is required to fulfil the machining
qualities and productivities. Very often, it is inappropriate to associate the cutting
mechanisms or theories obtained from homogenous materials with those for FRP composites.
This is due to the inherently non-homogeneous microstructure as well as pronounced
anisotropy of these materials. Thus, fundamental understandings of FRP composites
machining can be adequately accomplished by performing controlled machining tests under
turning, drilling or milling processes. Despite the difference in cutting mechanisms, these
machining processes have a common aspect of removing a portion of material from the
workpiece in the form of chip creation. This is normally achieved through the relative
movement between the cutting tool and the workpiece material using either a single or
multiple-point cutting edges or tools. Regardless of the cutting tool types and machining
processes used, the principal challenge of successful machining for FRP composites lies in
their susceptibility to damage and delamination when subjected to extreme machining
conditions. In fact, the properties of FRP composites create difficulties in machining them
with consistent quality. This restricts their final usage as machined components. Since the
FRP composites contain highly abrasive fibre reinforcements, they account for severe wear
and premature failure of a cutting tool while machining such materials. This necessitates
frequent tool changes or re-sharpening, which results in high tooling and machining costs.
Deterioration of tool sharpness also increases the likelihood of inducing damage to the FRP
composites, which adds to their existing poor machinability. Clearly, each of these
difficulties must be overcome through a combination of suitable selections of machining
parameters, tool geometry, tool material as well as machining strategies. A number of
scientific studies on FRP composites machining have been carried out since the inception of
their wide use in the late 1970s. Renewed research interests in the recent years have
rigorously laid fundamental insights into the cutting mechanisms of FRP composites. The

2
studies cover a range of experimental trials and simulations; and the results are presented
using analytical, numerical, and statistical modelling. It appears that a considerable number
of empirical and analytical results, particularly on turning and drilling processes, have
substantially contributed towards the scientific findings on FRP composites machining.
Optimal designs of new tooling and studies on the influences of machining parameters, while
drilling and turning, have been treated comprehensively. Machining induced-delamination
and damage detecting techniques for the aforesaid machining processes have also been
extensively improved. Evidence from literature shows that the main thrust of research
undertaken globally has put significant attention on turning and drilling of FRP composites,
yet, only a limited amount of work has considered milling process. As the understanding of
machinability for drilling and turning has matured, the focus of research must now switch to
the more complex milling operation. Since the use of FRP composites is finding tremendous
increase in a wide range of applications, one can expect broader industrial applications of
milling such materials. Hence, this thesis describes an elaborate study of end milling FRP
composites. This machinability study is specifically performed on the unidirectional
corbonfibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites using a tungsten carbide cutting tool.
The challenge of this research lies mainly in the complexity of the cutting mechanisms
associated with milling. As the cutting actions in milling involve a tool with single or
multiple edges rotating about a fixed axis, the material removal process is intermittent. This
promotes periodic contact stresses, temperature and heat variations on the cutting tool and
workpiece material. Each of the cutting tool edges also experiences cyclic loading during
machining, as the tool fractures through different layers of fibre reinforcement and matrix
materials in the composite. Under certain machining parameters, to optimize certain
characteristics of like surface roughness and delamination factor.
1.3 Research Objectives
The primary aim of this research is to undertake a comprehensive machinability study of
FRP composites. The focus is on the end milling operation, in which a thorough
understanding of cutting mechanisms is carried out. This is achieved through a series of
objectives outlined as follows: In the first part of the main work, comprehensive experiments
are conducted to investigate and understand the effects of machining parameters on key
machinability outputs using experimental design methodology. The suitable sets of
operational conditions are established to yield desirable end milling of CFRP composites

3
under different machinability outputs, namely surface roughness and delamination factor.
Until recently, many previous studies on milling FRP composites have focused on limited
aspects of machinability indices, such as surface quality and machining induced damage.
Hence, the second part of this study attempts to establish the constitutive relationships
between end milling parameters, CFRP composite characteristics and the machinability
output, namely, surface roughness and delamination factor. Experiments are systematically
performed over a broader range of machining parameters, and predictive models are
developed using different techniques. Various machining parameters are used to validate the
proposed models. The nature of chips and their formation mechanisms during a cutting
operation govern the extent surface quality, and sub-surface integrity. Therefore, the final
phase of this research programme aims to investigate the maching parameters during milling
of CFRP composites.
The works of a number of authors [24-30], when reporting on milling of FRP, have shown
that the type and orientation of the fiber, cutting parameters and tool geometry have an
essential paper on the machinability. Everstine and Rogers [24] presented the first theoretical
work on the machining of FRPs in 1971, since then the research made in this area has been
based on experimental investigations. Koplev et al. [25], Kaneeda [26] and Puw and Hocheng
[27] concluded that the principal cutting mechanisms correlate strongly to fiber arrangement
and tool geometry. Santhanakrishman et al. [28] and Ramulu et al. [29] carried out a study on
machining of polymeric composites and concluded that an increasing of the cutting speed
leads to a better surface finish. Hocheng et al. [30] studied the effect of the fiber orientation
on the cut quality, cutting forces and tool wear on the machinability. In Enemuoh et al. [31]
has been realized that with the application of the technique of Taguchi and a multi-objective
optimization criterion, it is possible to achieve cutting parameters that allow the absence of
damage in drilling of fiber reinforced plastics. Sheikh-Ahmad et al. [32] have studied the
comprehensive model for orthogonal milling of unidirectional composites at various fiber
orientations. Devi Kalla [33] has studied the mechanistic modelling techniques for simulating
the cutting of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) with a helical end mill. A
methodology has been developed for predicting the cutting forces by transforming specific
cutting energies from orthogonal cutting to oblique cutting. In summary, it can be noticed that
the works carried out on the machinability of FRP, are basically related on the wear of cutting
tools and the quality on the surfaces, as a function of the cutting conditions, the distribution

4
of staple fibers in the polymeric matrix and the angle of inclination of staple fibers.The usage
of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites is growing in a variety of engineering
and industrial applications, including aircraft, space, automotive, sporting goods, and marine
engineering due to their significant
Advantages over other materials. They provide high rupture resistance, very good fatigue
strength, very good heat and electricity conductivity, and smaller specific mass. CFRP
composite materials do also not clearly show cracks and fatigue. Therefore, it is widely used
in military and commercial aircraft industry. For instance, A380 aircraft’s central fuselage
section is made of 50% CFRP composites. Boeing 787 has 80% composite by volume. The
materials, listed by weight, are 50% advanced composites, 20% aluminium, 25% titanium
and steel, and 5% other materials. The reason for using these materials is to reduce the costs
of scheduled and nonroutine maintenances [34-37].In automotive, aircraft, and space
industries, machining of composite components is a major manufacturing operation. Milling
is one of the machining processes most frequently used in the manufacturing part of
composites. However, the milling of composite components remains a challenge. There have
been several studies in the literature on damage, surface roughness, and cutting forces in
milling of CFRP composites [38-40]. Hocheng et al. [41] presented a preliminary scientific
study on the milling of CFRP composites. They observed chip characteristics and evaluated
machinability of CFRP composites as a function of fiber direction and cutting condition. The
milled surface parallel to laminate is found to be quite smooth for different cutting
conditions. They found it to be quite smooth of milled surface parallel to laminate for
difficult cutting conditions. The influence of the machining processes of carbon/epoxy and
glass/epoxy composites on their mechanical performances is investigatedby Ghidossi et al.
[42]. As a consequence of their study, it may be said that there is a significant effect of
machining processes on composite parts strength for certain sets of parameters. Hintze et al.
[43] have report which mainly investigates the milling of CFRP as a function of increasing
tool wear. In this experimental study, they investigated the correlation between wear and
fiber orientation on the delamination and described occurrence of delamination of the top
layers during milling of CFRP composites using new and worn tools. The experiment results
show that delamination in milling CFRP composite materials are dependent on the fiber
orientation and tool sharpness. Raj et al. [44] carried out a study of surface roughness and
delamination factor in use of coated and uncoated K10 end mills under various cutting

5
conditions. Ahmad et al. [45] conducted an experimental investigation to determine the effect
of spindle speed, feed rate, and tool condition on delamination depth and surface roughness
of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites during edge trimming operation.
Delaminations were also characterized by their type and frequency of occurrence. Surface
roughness and delamination are quantified as functions of cutting speed and feed rate. The
optimum cutting parameters for working with this cutting tool are also identified. They found
that delamination and surface roughness increase with an increase in feed rate. Delamination
and surface roughness decrease with an increase in spindle speed. Davim and Reis [46]
investigated the influence of cutting parameters such as cutting speed and feed rate on the
surface roughness, delamination factor, and international dimensional precision in milling
laminate plates of CFRP using cemented carbide end mills. They also established an
empirical relationship between cutting parameters and surface roughness and delamination
factor Kalla et al.[38] studied prediction of cutting forces in milling CFRP composites. They
used mechanistic modeling techniques for simulating the cutting of CFRP composites. They
also developed a force prediction model in helical end milling of unidirectional and
multidirectional composites with different fiber orientations from 0° to 180°.

6
 CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the state of the art for FRP composites machining. The subjects
vary from the types of machining operations, the effects of machining parameters of
machinability analyses. Nonetheless, it is essential at the beginning of this chapter to provide
related background on FRP composites. This includes the types of fibre reinforcements,
polymer matrices and the FRP composites fabrication processes. Finally, a range of
discussion on the optimisation and modelling of machinability performance for these
composite materials concludes the last sections of this chapter. Milling is one of the most
important machining processes in manufacturing parts made out of FRPs. However, unlike
the milling of metalswhich is characterised by high material removal rates, milling of FRPs is
conducted at much lower scale. The reason for this is that FRP components are largely made
near net shape and any subsequent milling is limited mainly to de-burring and trimming as
well as to achieving contour shape accuracy (Jamal and Sheikh, 2009)[102]. The use of
carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites in engineering applications such as
automotive, aircraft and manufacture of space ships and sea vehicles industries have been
increased considerably in recent years due to their light weight, high modulus, specific
strength,superior corrosion resistance, high fracture toughness andresistance to chemical and
microbiological attacks (Hull andClyne, 1996)[103]. CFRP composite materials are
extremely abrasive when machined. Thus, the selection of the cutting tool and the cutting
parameters is very important in the machining process (Rahmanh et al., 1999)[104]. Milling
composite materials are significantly affected by the tendency of these materials to
delaminate under the action of machining forces, cutting force, feed force anddepth force,
respectively. With regard to improving the quality of the machined surface, some problems,
such as surface delamination and fibre/resin pull out, must be showed. In order to reduce
these problems, and achieve the desired quality of the machined surface, it is necessary to
understand the cutting mechanisms of material removal, and the kinetics of machining
processes affecting the performance of the cutting tools (Sreejith et al., 2000)[105]. Precise
machining needs to be performed to ensure the dimensional stability and interface quality
(Ferreira et al., 1999)[106]. However, the structural properties of this material complicate the

7
finish machining process, leading to difficulties in quality control. The machining of
composite is different from the conventional machining of metal due to the composite’s
anisotropic and non-homogeneous nature (Ramkumar et al., 2004)[107].The works of various
authors (Koplev et al., 1983; Kaneeda, 1989; PuwandHocheng,1995; Santhanakrishman et
al., 1988; Ramulu et al., 1994), when reporting on milling composite materials, have shown
that the surface quality (surface roughness), and delamination factor is strongly dependent on
cutting parameters, tool geometry and cutting forces[108-112]. Davim et al. (2004)
investigated the effect of cutting parameters (cutting speed and feed rate) on surface
roughness and delamination during milling of CFRP composite using solid carbide (K10) end
mills with two and six flutes[113]. After the prepreg preparation, lay-up and autoclave
processes, milling techniques (such as edge milling, surface milling, trimming) were used to
machine the material to its nominal dimensions [114-118] and to obtain the net shaped parts
with low tolerances and high quality surfaces. Milling is the most frequently used machining
operation to obtain the net shaped parts with low tolerances and high quality surfaces [119].
However, some failures/damages are also observed in milling of these materials as observed
in other laminated composite materials.
Fiber reinforced composites offer high strength-weight ratio, high modulus- weight ratio,
high fatigue strength-weight ratio, high fatigue damage tolerance, low coefficient of thermal
expansion and high internal damping (Mallick 1988)[158]. These properties make fiber
reinforced composites emerge as the major structural material in the aerospace, vehicle and
shippingindustry where weight reductions as well as exceptional physical and mechanical
properties are of major concern. Although composite materials are manufactured to near net
shape, a need often exists for machining operations. Composite materials can be one of the
most difficult-to-machine materials due to their inherent inhomogeniety, abrasive nature of
reinforcements and anisotropic nature, resulting in high tool wear and sub-surface damage.
The first theoretical work on FRP was presented by Everstine& Rogers (1971)[160]. They
did the theoretical analysis of plane deformation of incompressible composites reinforced by
strong parallel fibers. While there exist an immense range of possible combinations in
composite materials, it primarily focuses on the discussion on machining of fiber and
particulate based composites. Machining of Fiber reinforced composite materials depends on
the properties of fibers and matrix and their effects on the machining process.

8
Koplev et al (1983)[161] conducted orthogonal machining tests on carbon fiber-reinforced
polymeric (CFRP) composites and observed the chip formation, surface quality and cutting
forces for two fiber orientations: perpendicular and parallel fiber orientations relative to the
cutting direction. It was concluded that the chip formation mechanism was a series of
fractures observed in the fibers and a rougher surface was observed from 90° fiber orientation
samples as compared to 0° fiber orientation. Komanduri (1997)[162] reported that during
machining of a glass reinforced with continuous fibers of silicon carbide, no cutting tool
material could achieve a respectable tool life.
In polymer matrix-based composite systems the most common reinforcing material is
glass and carbon fibers, while the matrix can be a thermo plastic or a thermosetting resin
polymer. Machining of these fiberreinforced polymer matrix composites has been extensively
studiedexperimentally. These materials are shown to cause excessive tool wear, which in turn
induce such damage phenomena as fiber pull out, delamination and debonding. This severe
tool wear in the case of both carbon and glass fiber reinforced composites is due to the
abrasive nature of the fibers.
Koenig et al (1985)[163] studied machining of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) - based
composite materials, by a number of processes such as drilling, routing, turning, milling and
water jet cutting. Various damage phenomena like fiber debonding, spalling, cracking of the
matrix, fiber failure and fiber pullout were observed during machining of fiber reinforced
composites.
Takeyama &Lijima (1988)[164] described the chip formation process in the machining of
a Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polymeric (GFRP) composite. They observed that chip formation is
highly dependent on the fiber orientation with respect to the cutting direction and observed
metal-like chip formations while machining the composite with a thermoplastic matrix as
opposed to a thermosetting resin polymer matrix.
Kim et al (1992)[165] conducted orthogonal tool wear tests on CFRP specimens. Fiber
orientation angle and cutting speed were the major contributors to the flank wear, which was
the major wear phenomena observed. The tool wear was caused due to the abrasive nature of
the carbonfiber. It was also shown that fiber orientation and feed affected the surface
roughness more than the cutting speed.
Wern&Ramulu (1995,1997)[166] studied the influence of fiber orientation on the cutting
forces and fiber pullout in Glass-Fiber-Composites (GFRP). They concluded that the tool

9
with a positive rake angle resulted in the least amount of damage in machined composite and
lower cutting force. Nayak et al (2005)[167] showed that the cutting force and the sub-
surface damageincreased with increase in fiber orientation while the rake angle had no or
minimal effect on the cutting forces and the observed damage.

Nayak et al (2004)[168] proposed a micro mechanical model approach with different

properties for the matrix and fiber that resulted in a better prediction of observed turning
forces and debonding that was limited to front face only. The parameters that are the major
contributors to cutting forces, surface quality and tool wear are fiber orientation, tool
geometry andmachining parameters. Many studies were conducted with reference to the
effect of cutting parameters, tool geometry and fiber orientation on the subsurface damage
observed in machined samples(Wang et al 1995). The results confirmed that lower cutting
forces for higher fiber orientations results in less damage. More recently, studies have been
conducted to investigate the delamination during drilling (Abrao et al 2007, Varadarajan et al
2002, Hocheng&Tsao 2006, Campos Rubio et al 2008)[169]. The effects of various
parameters on delamination were also summarized by Abrao et al (2007). Hocheng&Tsao
(2006) examined the critical thrust force at the onset of delamination and showed the effects
of drill bit geometry on the thrust force and hence the delamination. Campos Rubio et al
(2008) and Karnik et al (2008) investigated the effects of drilling parameters on delamination
of fiberreinforced plastics and showed that higher speed, among others, could reduce
delamination due to higher cutting temperature. Ceramic fiber-reinforced metal matrix
composites have seldom been machined with conventional machining methods. The fibers
can be either short or long and continuous as governed by their application. The
reinforcements enhance the properties of the metal matrix by increasing fracture toughness,
resistance to high temperatures, strength and damage tolerance. The composite properties are
highly dependent on the type of reinforcement as the mode of failure. Continuous fiber
reinforcements are stiffer than particulate or whisker reinforcements in the fiber direction
(Hyde 1990). Varadarajan et al (2002)studied the machinability characteristics of a low
volume fraction (25%), random alumina-silicate fiber-reinforcedaluminium composite and
showed poly-crystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tools outperformed their coated carbide
counterparts. Although PCBN tools have shown some promise, PCD tools are usually
recommended for machining of these composites. Similar to monolithic ceramics, continuous

10
fiber MMC’s are generally not machined using conventional machining techniques like
milling and turning due to the hardness of the constituent fibers. Fibers present in the metal
matrix pose another problem for machining of MMCs as any fiber breakage or pullout causes
a reduction in the material properties. Further, more silicon carbide (SiC) fibers and boron
nitride interface are susceptible to oxidation and hence utmost care must be taken during
machining. Weinert& Lange (2003)assessed the machinability of an AZ91 magnesium alloy
with 20 vol%Al2O3short fibers, where in milling was carried out with a PCD tool, and
suggested using moderate cutting speeds and high feed to offset the high tool wear.
Dandekar& Shin (2010) conducted machining experiments on the Al–2% Cu aluminium
matrix composite reinforced with 62 vol % alumina fibers (Al–2%Cu/Al2O3) with a PCD
tool, and characterized the damage in the composite after machining a successive fiber
breakage below the cutting plane. Due to brittle nature of the alumina fiber there was an
observable damage below the cutting plane, in the form of debonding between the fiber and
the matrix, micro cracking of fibers and fiber pullout. The excessive tool wear and damage
associated with machining of long fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites results in the
process being uneconomical. It is clear that
the presence of reinforcement makes MMCs different from monolithic materials due to
incorporation of its superior physical properties. In addition, the amount and type of
reinforcement introduce different properties in the strength and toughness of composites.
Higher fiber/particulate reinforcement results in a reduction in the ductility of MMCs,
causing harsh machining conditions.
2.1 Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites
2.1.1 Preface
The use of FRP composites, as seen in the past few decades, covers a wide spectrum of
applications, ranging from high-performance aerospace components to the low end consumer
goods. The extensive growth in their applications stems from the increase need in the global
market for high-performance and lightweight products or components. This is partially due to
the substantial surges of the energy prices in the last few years, which have challenged
industries to design and manufacture products and components that have a significant weight
reduction. By a simple definition, a composite material comprises at least two phases: the
reinforcing phase and the matrix or binding phase. The aforesaid definition can represent any
general classification of a material in the microscopic level.This may include metals alloys,

11
plastics and their co-polymers, woods, and other minerals. However, from a macroscopic
point of view, FRP composites constitute in-homogeneous and anisotropic properties, which
are totally different compared to that of metal alloys and the non-reinforced polymer
properties.
2.2 Composite Materials:
In many applications, metal and wood parts have been replaced by polymer composites
that have satisfactory properties and also could be manufactured with less expense. Similar to
the metals and ceramics, properties of polymers are intricately related to the structural
elements of the materials.
Majority of reinforcements used are strong and brittle fibers incorporated into a soft and
ductile polymeric matrix. Fibers are carbon, glass, aramid, etc., Fibers can be short or long.
Long fibers can be unidirectional (all fibers are parallel to each other) or woven into fabric or
cloth. Unidirectional fibers provide highest mechanical properties in a composite. Glass fiber
reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites are mostly used materials in view of their high
specific mechanical properties and low cost. Carbon fiber reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and
Aramid fiber reinforced polymer (AFRP) provides high specific strength, higher specific
stiffness and light weight. The latter are used where performance and no cost is the major
consideration. AFRP is used instead of CFRP where strength, lightness and toughness are
major considerations.
2.2.1 Classification of Composites:
Composites are classified according to the matrix material as listed in
Figure 1.1 below:
1. Metal matrix composites
2. Ceramic matrix composites
3. Polymer matrix composites
4. Inter-metallic compounds
5. Carbon-carbon composite

12
 Composites

Inter- Carb
Met Polym Ceram on
metall
al er ic

Classification of composites materials[30]

Composites are classified according to the form of reinforcement material as listed

below:
i. Particle reinforced
ii. Fiber reinforced
iii. Structural
Particle reinforced composites are further classified into: Large particles and Dispersion
strengthened.
Fiber reinforced composites are classified as: Short fiber reinforced, which is random
oriented and aligned composites and Long fiber reinforced, which are Uni-directional and Bi-
directional composites.
Structural composites are classified into: Laminated and Sandwich panels, which in turn
consist of Foam and Honeycomb structure.
2.2.1.1 Metal matrix
The advantage of metal matrix is found in applications, which requires a long span
resistance to severe environments namely high temperature. The ratios of yield strength and
modulus to weight of many metallic materials are of higher side than that of polymer
materials, which is important for high traverse strength, modulus and compressive strength
applications. Drawbacks associated with metallic materials are high density, high melting

13
point and corrosive tendency. Popular metal matrices are aluminum and titanium due to their
comparatively low density and availability.

2.2.1.2 Ceramic matrix

This composite material is highly suitable for high temperature stability,thermal shock
resistance, high modulus, high hardness, high corrosion resistance andlow density. With its
brittleness and low resistance to crack propagation, they arelow in fracture toughness, which
could be improved by reinforcement. There are twocategories such as oxides and non-oxides.
Commonly used oxides are alumina(Al2O3) and mullite (Al2O3-SiO2), which are known for
their thermal and chemicalstability. Non-oxides are silicon carbide (SiC) known for high
modulus, siliconnitride (Si3N4) for high strength, boron carbide (B4C) and alumina nitride
(AlN) forhigh thermal conductivity.
2.2.1.3 Polymeric matrix
Among various matrices in composite materials, polymer matrices arethe widely used
material. Different molecular configurations, lower cost as well aseasiness in processing
could result in wide range of properties to be obtained frompolymer materials. Therefore
polymers are preferred as a premier material forbinding and enclosing material for
reinforcement [8]. Polymer is defined as a longchain molecule containing one or more
repeating units of atoms, joined together bystrong covalent bonds. It is a collection of large
number of polymer molecules ofsimilar chemical structure. Polymers are classified into
various ways based on theirbasic raw materials, their distinctive properties and their broad
applications. As faras engineering point of view is concern, they could be divided into two
broadcategories as found below:
1. Thermo-setting polymers and
2. Thermoplastic polymers.
In thermoplastic polymers, individual molecules are not joinedchemically together. They
are held together in place by weak secondary bonds orintermolecular forces such as
Vanderwalls bonds and hydrogen bonds. On applyingheat, these secondary bonds are broken
temporarily and molecules could be movedeach other to a new configuration by applying
pressure on them.But in thermoset polymer, molecules are chemically joined together

14
bycross-links, forming a rigid, and three dimensional networks. Therefore they can notbe
melted by the application of heat.
The most desirable mechanical properties of a matrix are:
1. High tensile modulus, which influences the compressive strength ofthe composite.
2. High tensile strength, which controls the intraply cracking in acomposite laminate.
3. High fracture toughness, which controls ply delamination and crackgrowth.There are some
special features that the polymeric solids possess; whichare not found in metallic materials
under normal conditions. They are: mechanicalproperties of polymeric materials that strongly
depend on both the atmospherictemperature and the loading rate. In polymer matrix
composites, there are differentresins and fibers are used for manufacturing. In the present
research, polyester resinis used as a matrix and carbon fiber is used as a strengthening and
they are discussedbelow.
2.2.1.4 Polyester resin
Unsaturated polyester resin contains a number of C=C double bonds. It isprepared by the
reaction of maleic anhydride and ethylene glycol or propyleneglycol. These acids do
notcontain C=C double bonds. The resulting polymeric liquid is dissolved in a reactivediluent
such as styrene, which reduces its viscosity and makes it easier to handle. Trace amount of an
inhibitor such as hydroquinone or benzoquinone are added to theliquid mix to prevent
premature polymerization during storage. The curing reactionis initiated by adding small
quantities of a catalyst, such as organic peroxide or analiphatic azo compound to the liquid
mix. If curing reaction is very slow, thedecomposition rate of a catalyst is increased by
adding small quantity of anaccelerator such as cobalt naphthanate.
2.2.1.5 Carbon fibers
On use, carbon fiber is second only to glass fiber due to its high stiffnessand strength
associated with low density and expensive. Carbon fibers are strong,stiff and low density
reinforcement but are relatively expensive, while glass fibersare relatively cheap and have
better fracture strain and stress but lack stiffness [9].
These fibers find their use in aerospace and sporting good applications, because ofthe
comparatively high stiffness-to-weight and high strength-to-weight ratiospossessed by these
fibers. Different grades are available with different modulusstrength and stiffness [10]. They
have a tensile modulus ranging from 207 to 240GPa, intermediate modulus in the order of
240 to 340 GPa and high modulus carbonfibers of the order of 340 to 960 GPa. The former

15
one is made from petroleum pitchprecursor at low cost, while the latter are made from a PAN
precursor. Highstrength, high modulus carbon fibers are of diameter about 5-7 μm consisting
ofsmall crystallites of graphite that is one of the allotropic forms of carbon [11]. Dueto
negative coefficient of thermal expansion of carbon fiber along its axis, as areinforcement it
helps to design a zero-dimensional change is achieved over a widerange of temperatures. In
this work, T300, a PAN based 6μm diameter high moduluscarbon fiber was used.

Figure 2.2 Carbon fiber

2.3 Characteristics
To present the potential of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites,some important
properties of a few metallic materials have been compared. Thelowest density of carbon fiber
reinforced epoxy composite is 1.55 kg/m3 whencompared with 7.87 kg/m3 and 2.7 kg/m3 for
SAE 1010 and 6061-T6 Al alloyrespectively. Modulus is also competitive with 137.8 GPa for
composite against 207GPa and 68.9 GPa for SAE 1010 and 6061-T6 Al alloy respectively.
Further, in thecase of tensile strength carbon fiber epoxy composites possess 1550 MPa
against365 GPa for SAE 1010 and against 310 GPa for 6061-T6 Al alloy. Properties of afew
selected reinforcing fibers are summarized in Table 1.1. Table 1.2 presents someselect
properties of polyester resin, which are used in this study [12].

16
 Table 2.1 Properties of selected commercial reinforcing fibers [13]

Tensile
Dia- Tensile Strain
Sl. Density stren- Poisson’s
Material Meter modulus to
No. (kg/m3) gth ratio
(µm) (GPa) failure
(GPa)

1 E-glass 10 2.54 72.4 3.45 4.8 0.20

2 S-glass 10 2.49 86.9 4.30 5.0 0.22

3 Carbon fiber
7 1.76 231 3.65 1.4 0.20
(T-300 )

4 P-55 10 2.0 380 1.90 0.5 -

5 Kevlar 149 11.9 1.47 179 3.45 1.9 -

2.4 Manufacturing and processing of FRP composite:

The basic building block of FRP composites manufacturing is the arrangement of a
number of fiber layers to create a preform. Depending on design requirements, the
arrangement of the preform can be uni-directional type, where all fibres arrange in one
direction, or multi/bi-directional for continuous (long) woven types of fibre reinforcements.
On the other hand, whenever discontinuous (short) fibre reinforcements are used, the
arrangement is usually uni-directionally or randomly oriented. Very often, the manufacturing
processes designed for FRP composites are different compared to that of conventional
processes used for metals, although in some cases, similarities can be found with processing
of polymers. In general, fabrication of FRP composites requires significantly less energy and
lower pressure or force than the manufacturing processes employed for metals.
2.4.1 Compression molding by hand lay-up process:
In the early days, wet hand lay-up was the dominant process to fabricate FRP
composites. It is still currently being used to make prototype or composite parts due to the
available knowledge and experience of handling this process. Figure 2.3 depicts the tools and
equipments of compression hand lay-up process, in which liquid resin is applied to fibre
reinforcement that are initially placed or arranged onto an open mould type. A roller is

17
conveniently used to distribute the liquid resin throughout the fibre reinforcement surface.
This is also carried out to ensure the full impregnation of the resin into the dry fibre or
preform.To meet the required thickness, the composite part is built up by applying a series of
reinforcing fibres and liquid resin layers. Once resin impregnation completes, the part is
normally left to cure or solidify at a room temperature. Even though the compression hand
lay-up is most common and simplest form of FRP composites fabrication, quality control
(e.g. volume fraction) of this process is often difficult. It always becomes a challenge to
maintain consistent quality (in terms of minimal voids and high fibre contents) of the
composite parts since the process is highly dependable on the skills of the operator or worker.
Thus, over the past years, researchers and manufacturers have explored the useof closed
mould processing as alternatives in improving the FRP composites manufacturing. Among
which includes sheet and bulk moulding compound, compression moulding, and liquid
composite moulding processes.

Figure : 2.3 Tools and equipment of compression hand lay-up process

2.5 Cutting Tool for Milling FRP Composites:

2.5.1 Tool materials
In parallel with the development of new engineering materials for various product
requirements, similar progress in the range and performance of cutting tool material can be
seen in the past few centuries, Figure 2.4. It is well known that PCD tools are by far the most
superior and extremely beneficial for high-speed machining due to their excellent thermal
conductivity and high hardness (wear resistance). In spite of this, the range of operations in
which they are used need to be carefully optimised because of their deficiency to resist shock
(low toughness) [19], e.g. they are susceptible to fracture. Notably, PCD tools only found
distinctive applications in machining ‘difficult to cut material’ under extreme cutting

18
conditions. On the basis of their cost, it has been reported that PCD tools current market share
is relatively low in comparison to the conventional tool materials such as carbide tools [126].
The cemented carbide tools can be said to be universally applied and a first choice cutting
tool material in most industrial cutting applications, whether in drilling, turning or milling
operations [127]. Based on the published literature, researchers have come to the agreement
that this tool material can be used, with a reasonable success, to machine the highly abrasive
FRP composites. One of the reasons for the success of carbide tools is the useful compromise
between toughness and hardness properties, as illustrated in Figure 2.19 [127]. This tool
material consists of hard carbide particles, mainly tungsten carbides (WC) bonded with
metallic binder, cobalt (Co), as depicted in Figure 2.20, manufactured through powder
metallurgy processes. It is to be noted that the proportion of WC particles can range from 70
to 97 wt% with their grain size typically around 0.4 to 10 microns. Depending on the
application group (long chip or short chip materials), the WC tools are further classified into
three grade groups of P, M and K.
Along with these designations, a numbering system is given to indicate the suitability of
the grade for a variety of applications from light finishing (01) to heavy roughing (50)
machining processes. Such examples of the grade systems are the K01, K10, K20 or K30
grades. On the other hand, despite some benefits in metal machining, similar results have not
been able to be delivered by the coated carbides during machining of the FRP composites, as
presented in the earlier section. The uncoated tungsten carbide continues to be the choice
among researchers and practitioners for FRP composites machining. Widely and readily
available, this tool can accommodate the broadest range of cutting geometries and parameters
[128]. The low price of carbide tools also allows the machine shop to consume many units of
them before approaching the cost of a PCD tool [128].
2.5.2 Cutting tool geometry:
In conjunction with the cutting tool material, selection of proper cutting tool geometry is
of extreme and equal importance during end milling of FRP composites. As in drilling
operations, a variety of cutting tool geometries is available for milling, as depicted in Figure
2.4 The design of end mill cutter geometry stems from diverse types of fibres and architecture
of FRP composites utilised for various industrial applications [3]. Referring to the tooling
system for wood machining and types of milling operations, a list of cutting tool geometries
suitable for these composites have been proposed. This includes straight flute router, single

19
and double helix cutter, and interlocking burr tool, as outlined in [3]. Straight flute route may
be the simplest geometry and can be effectively use for trimming of composite panels, but
this tool tends to clog due to its poor chip removal [3]. Cutting tool geometry for milling FRP
composites (a) straight flute router, (b-d) single helix and (e-f) multiple helix tool and burr
tool [3] On the other hand, the diamond interlocked solid carbide burr tools, which are
specially design for FRP compositesoften use during high speed routing of the composite
materials. However, due to a number of teeth being simultaneously engaged during cutting,
the chip formation is not well defined [28]. As a consequence, the growth of tool wear will
not be gradual (non-uniform) which makes it difficult to estimate the tool regrinding or re-
sharpening time prior to reaching the tool failure criterion. The single helix or double helix
tools may, therefore, provide the advantages of monitoring the progression of the tool wear
directly and easily. It is to note that all Literature Review 44 cutting tool design for milling of
FRP composites may exhibits clogging problems during machining owing to the small
diameter and improper selection of cutting parameters [3]. Continuous blowing of
compressed air into the cutting zone along with an effective dust extraction system during
machining can help alleviate this problem.

Figure :2.4 Cutting tool geometry of end mill cutter for milling of FRP composites

20
2.6 PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES
In order to achieve the objectives of the research the following activities werecarried out,
i) Manufacturing of CFRP using Hand-layup method.
ii)Machining of CFRP
ii) Analysing the interaction effects of process parameters.
iii) Optimising the machining parameters based on experimentaldata using Gray Relational
Analysis and Taguchi method.

21
 CHAPTER-3
PROBLEM STATEMENT AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Importance of CFRP composite material and various methods developed by researchers
for these studies are discussed in the first two chapters and the scope is identified for the
present work. This chapter covers the statement of the objectives of the present work,
explanation of the method adopted to solve various cases and provides validation of the
proposed method.
3.2 problem statement
The objective of the present work is to study the CFRP composite. By using two different
materials to manufacture the laminates by using compression moulding technique .We have
manufactured the composite laminate with the help Hand layup method. The present work is
focused to know the influence of milling process parameters on milled surface quality of
CFRP composites. Consider input factors are spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut where
output responses are surface roughness and delamination factor.Taguchi L9, 3-level
orthogonal array is considered for experimentation. Optimal process parameters are validated
by grey relational grade achieved by the grey relational analysis for multi performance
characteristics. Finally experimental results were also analyzed by scanning electron
micrographs using SEM.

3.3 Methodology:
Machining of composite materials is performed to obtain the desirable geometrical
tolerances and dimensional accuracy, while using machining parameters ..In the present work
carbon fiber reinforced polymer material is manufactured by hand lay-up
compressionmoulding technique .By using Taguchi method and Gray Relational Analysis we
have to find out the surface roughness and delamination factor. Taguchi L9, 3-level
orthogonal array is considered for experimentation.Optimal process parameters are validated
by grey relational grade achieved by the grey relational analysis for multi performance
characteristics.

22
3.4 Fabrication of CFRP Composite Specimens:
3.4.1 Selection of fibre reinforcement and matrix material
The selected fibre reinforcement was the uni-directional carbon T-300 fibre Figure 3.1,
supplied by SP High Modulus (NZ). carbon T-300 fibre is favourable as it provides the key
structural properties of a composite material carbon T-300 fibre was also chosen as it is high
strength compared to other types of fibre reinforcements, e.glassfibres and Kevlar®. The
polymer matrix used for fabrication of the composite material was the R300 thermoset epoxy
resin with the R310 hardener, both supplied by Nuplex FGI Ltd. Epoxy is chosen as it is a
versatile resin system that allows a broad range of FRP composites’ properties and processing
capabilities. It is also well known that epoxy resin exhibits low shrinkage, excellent adhesion,
and impregnation characteristics to a variety of substrate materials especially the E-glass
fibres [169]. The Nuplex resin systems have been selected because of their suitability for
resin infusion and being readily available on the shelf. Brief specifications of the E-glass
fibre, epoxy resin and the hardener used are listed in Table 3.1.

Figure: 3.1 Carbon fiber laminates after fabrication

Table 3.1: Specifications of fiber reinforcement and thermosetting resin

Specifications Carbon T-300 Epoxy resin Hardener
Density (kg/m3 ) 2560 1200 -
Areal density (g/m2 ) 480 - -
Product code EU450‐1270 R300 R310

23
3.4.2 Manufacturing Methods:
Composite materials are fabricated using matrix and reinforcements. Polymer resins
are used for making polymer matrix composites. Fibers are used for reinforcement. If more
than one fiber is used, it is called as hybrid composites. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer
(CFRP) composite materials are often called as composites. Generally, the properties of
matrix materials are improved by incorporating reinforcement to make it a composite. The
primary role of the matrix is to envelope and binds the fiber in order to distribute the load
applied on it as well as to maintain the fiber in the targeted location and orientation. Fiber is
abrasive in nature and possesses high strength and high modulus, acting as a principal load
carrying member. Taking this as an advantage, it could be customized to suit a particular
application [14,15].
Cost effectiveness and reliability are the prime ingredients for any manufacturing method
to fabricate components. Cost effectiveness depends greatly on the production rate; on the
other hand reliability is wholly depending on the quality of each component throughout the
process.
Fabrication method for composite components is broadly classified into open mould
process, closed mould process and continuous process. Reinforcement is kept on a suitably
finished surface of an open mould. Selected liquid resin with added catalyst is applied onto
the reinforcement using paint brush. Further accelerator is added to cure the component at
suitable temperature if necessary with external heating system.
Commonly used resins are epoxy, polyester, polyether etherketone, polyamides, ultra high
molecular weight polyethylene. Commonly used fibers are glass, carbon, Kevlar. Fibers are
used in different forms such as particles, flakes, whiskers, short fibers, continuous fibers and
mats. Carbon and alumina fibers possess high strength and stiffness. Kevlar fibers are stiffer
and lighter than the glass fibers. Cellulose fiber is used in various forms such as cotton, jute,
hemp etc.
In the earlier days, hand lay up is the method used for fabrication of composite structural
components. It is a reliable process, labor intensive as well as naturally very slow. Due to the
increasing demand for composite materials in a variety of fields, more effort is taken in the
development of manufacturing methods, which is suitable for mass production of
components. Compression mouldingpultrusion and filament winding are the three methods
considered highly suitable for the situation. Though these methods are available presently,

24
investigations have been initiated to optimize these processes. As a comparison, this section
proceeds with a brief description on one of the most basic fabrication processes, namely the
Compression molding hand lay-up. Compression molding hand lay-up In the early days,
Compression molding hand lay-up was the dominant process to fabricate FRP composites. It
is still currently being used to make prototype or composite parts due to the available
knowledge and experience of handling this process. Figure 2.5 depicts the schematic of wet
hand lay-up process, in which liquid resin is applied to fibre reinforcement that are initially
placed or arranged onto an open mould type. A roller is conveniently used to distribute the
liquid resin throughout the fibre reinforcement surface. This is also carried out to ensure the
full impregnation of the resin into the dry fibre or preform. Figure 2.5: Schematic of wet hand
lay-up process [4] To meet the required thickness, the composite part is built up by applying
a series of reinforcing fibres and liquid resin layers. Once resin impregnation completes, the
part is normally left to cure or solidify at a room temperature. Even though the wet hand lay-
up is most common and simplest form of FRP composites fabrication, quality control (e.g.
volume fraction) of this process is often difficult. It always becomes a challenge to maintain
consistent quality (in terms of minimal voids and high fibre contents) of the composite parts
since the process is highly dependable on the skills of the operator or worker. Thus, over the
past years, researchers and manufacturers have explored the use
3.4.3 Manufacturing of test panels:
Vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding, also known as resin infusion, was adopted to
fabricate the composite laminates for the machining experiments. This process offers several
advantages over conventional composite fabrication methods such as wet hand lay-up, as
highlighted in Chapter 2. Higher quality of the composite laminates, e.g. high volume
fraction with minimal void contents, can be produced using the VARTM process [6]. This
process also provides a safe and clean fabrication environment compared to that of the
traditional wet hand lay-up As elaborated in Chapter 2, the basis of VARTM is that the liquid
epoxy resin is drawn into the mould cavity under vacuum pressure to impregnate the dry fibre
reinforcements. The porosity of the cured composite laminates can be reduced significantly
through the application of the vacuum pressure into the mould cavity. During the fabrication,
a flat glass panel of 1200 mm x 800 mm (placed on a steel frame table) was served as the
rigid side of the mould. A vacuum bag, which replaces the rigid upper half of the
conventional RTM mould, acts as the cavity side of the mould. A set of consumables that

25
consist of peel ply (PP80-1270), distribution media and channel, resin tubes and sealant tapes
were used to construct the VARTM mould,
3.4.4Experimental Procedure:
The composite laminate of 5mm thickness was fabricated using hand lay-up
compression molding technique. During the manufacturing of composite laminates, 8 layers
of carbon fibre material of size 300 mm length × 300 mm breadth was placed on the flat 5
mm-thick mould panel. In the fabrication process L-12 epoxy resin is used and K-6 hardener
is used. A mixture of epoxy resin and a hardener at 10:1 ratio was stirred in a glass mug until
it gets fully mixed. The ready mixture was later poured into the carbon preform and
compressed. The resin has been cured after 24 hours at room temperature, and ready
laminates were cut into length of 100 mm× breadth of 100 mm× thickness of 5 mm size for
experimentation. The epoxy matrix reinforced with 45% of carbon fibre, the average value of
‘Vf’ of fibre was found approximately 0.45 as perASTM D2548-68. The physical and
mechanical properties of a 5-mm-thickness UD-CFRP composite laminate has been tested
according to ASTM D792 and ASTM D2548-68 standards. The values of, density, tensile
strength, and tensile modulus of the tested sample were found as 1.76g/cc, 3.75Gpa,231Gpa
respectively.
A total of 9 experiments were planned using Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array design. Three
important controlled parameters, i.e., spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut has been
considered to plan the experiments; each parameter was varied at three levels and is shown in
Table1. During the Taguchi analysis, the average value of experimental response and its
corresponding signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of each run was calculated to explore the effects of
individual machining process parameters. The S/N ratio is chosen for the Taguchi analysis
because it helps to describe the average (mean) and variables (standard deviation) of the
experimental results. The focus of the present study was to obtain the lowest possible surface
roughness and delamination factor with optimized variable input process parameters. Hence,
the S/N ratio will take up “the lower the better” category. Experiments were performed on
CNC milling machine of 7.45 kW spindle power and maximum speed of 5000 rpm. The
milling of workpieces was conducted in dry conditions to perform 10mm width of slots with
a solid tungsten carbide end mill cutter of 10mm diameter. The experimental set up is shown
in Figure 3.2.

26
 Figure 3.2: CFRP composite laminate fixed in the CNC Milling machine
Moreover, surface roughness was considered as a parameter for surface quality and being
measured for three different indicators at the starting, middle, and end points along the tool
feed directionon the vertical wall surface of the milled slotusing Mitutoyo surface roughness
tester (Japan). The centreline average (CLA) method is used as cut-off, and transfer length
was set as 0.5 and 5 mm according to ISO 4287/1 with least count of 0.01µmand average of
surface roughness values are listed in Table 2. The damage takes placed was determined in
the perpendicular direction of the tool using a travel microscope (Model RVM-201) with an
accuracy of 10 μm. Delamination factor (FD) was calculated by taking the average value as
per procedure ofDevim et al [28] and delamination factor values are listed in Table 2.
Delamination factor (FD) was calculated using formulae, FD=WMax/W--------------1.
Where WMax = Width of a slot after machining and W= Actual width of a slot.
Finally, SEM was used to examine the surface morphology of machined UD-CFRP
composite laminates.

27
3.4.5 Volume fraction experiment
It is known that combinations of fibre and resin content affect not only the laminates
mechanical strength, but also their machinability. Consistent fibre and resin content on each
of the laminates produced are essential in order to minimise the variability during machining
experiments. Therefore, the burn-off test (according to ASTM D3171-09) was employed to
evaluate the volume content of the fabricated laminates. Five samples (25 mm x 25 mm) from
different batches of the fabricated laminates were randomly chosen and prepared for the burn-
off test.
3.5 Machinability of fiber reinforced polymer
Composites as a group of materials are generally extremely abrasive and are difficult to
machine due to its anisotropy nature (Ramkumar et al 2004). Kevin Chou &Jie (2005) carried
turning operation using, CVD diamond-coated tools, 30 mm thick on tungsten carbide
substrates. Cutting conditions ranged from 1 m/s to 6 m/s of cutting speed, 0.05 mm/ rev to
0.3 mm/rev feed, and 1 mm to 2 mm depth of cut. Tool wear was measured and compared at
different machining conditions. Cutting forces, chip thickness, and the chip–tool contact area
were also measured for cutting temperature simulation by finite element analysis. The results
show that tool wear is sensitive to cutting speed and feed rate, and the dominant wear
mechanism is coating failure due to high stresses.
Caprino&Nele (1996), Caprino et al (1998), carried out Orthogonal cutting tests on
unidirectional glass-fibre reinforced plastics, using high-speed steel tools. During the tests,
the tool rake and relief angle, and the depth of cut were varied, whereas the cutting direction
was held parallel to the fibre orientation. The trend of the principal forces recorded during
cutting clearly showed the so-called ‘size effect’: the unit cutting force (also known as
‘specific energy’) was a decreasing function of the depth of cut, tending to infinity for
vanishingly small values of t. A previous force scheme, assuming a significant influence of
the friction generated by the work material sliding along the tool flank on the overall cutting
forces, was utilized to interpret the cutting data, and to differently define the unit cutting
force. According to the model, the unit cutting force and the coefficient of friction were
independent of both the relief angle and the depth of cut, although the former, as expected,
sensibly decreased with increase in the rake angle.

28
 A hybrid composite represents a combination of two or more fiber materials, consisting
of a continuous matrix material reinforced by strands of another material. Both the matrix and
the reinforcing elements are highly abrasive, limiting tool life. Delamination is the major
phenomenon of work piece failure since composites are laid as layers in polymeric matrix
composites (Edorado-Capello 2004). When machining a composite, chipped cutting edges
will often cause additional damage to the material (Surinder Kumar et al 2012).
Lee (2001) conducted machinability studies on GFRP by means oftools made of single
crystal diamond, a polycrystalline diamond and cubic boron nitride cutting tools and
recommended the use of single crystal diamond tool for GFRP machining. Kopf et al (2006)
studied the effect of machining force and observed that it plays a key role in analysing the
machining process of FRP and proved that machining force increases with feed rate and
decreases with cutting velocity.
Lasri et al (2009) studied the progressive failure of the unidirectional glass fibre
reinforced polymer composite and confirmed that for all fiber orientations the subsurface
damage such as matrix cracking, fiber matrix debonding started near the cutting edge and
propagated in directions parallel and perpendicular to the fiber inside the work piece. Cutting
forces were found to increase with increase in depth of cut during orthogonal machining of
unidirectional CFRP (Santo et al 1998). The effect of fibreorientation on cutting forces and
cutting quality in orthogonal machining of unidirectional CFRP was analysed(Lopresto et al
1999). The attention was focused on the mechanisms of chip generationLopresto et al (2001),
Because of the inferior surface quality of unidirectional CFRP after orthogonal machining for
some fibre orientations, the development of new tool geometry to reduce work material
surface damage was investigated (Caprino et al 2001).
High speed drilling in fiber reinforced plastics could reduce delamination due to higher
cutting ettemperature (Campos Rubio al 2008, Santiuste et al 2010). In another work
Rajasekaran et al (2011) analyzed the variation of surface roughness in turning of CFRP
composites using CBN tool. Though surface roughness is affected by many parameters such
as properties of cutting tool material and work piece material, tool geometry, and rigidity of
machine tool; machining parameters namely cutting speed, feed and depth of cut are
considered to be the most significant. The conclusions of the study were feed is the
machining parameter that has the greater impact on deciding the surface roughness than the
other parameters considered in this study, Surface roughness was found to be increasing with

29
the increase of feed.But it is reverse with the cutting speed. That is surface roughness
decreases
with the increase of cutting speed.
Ferreira et al (1999) reports practical experiments in turning, to study the performance of
different tool materials such as ceramics, cemented carbide, cubic boron nitride (CBN), and
diamond (PCD). The results show that only diamond tools are suitable for finish turning. An
optimisationmethodology was used in rough machining to determine the best cutting
conditions. The tests were carried out with cemented carbide tool at various cutting speeds. In
the optimisation methodology, cutting length is used as tool replacement criterion and some
parameters were monitored such as the feed and cutting forces that can be used as a safety
system. They made the following conclusions. The cutting speed has a large influence on
carbide tool wear/life. The tool wear has a strong influence on feed force and surface
roughness. The CFRP composite machining tests showed a good repeatability.
Rahman et al (1999) developed feasible techniques for machining Carbon Fiber
Reinforced Composites (CFRP). Fundamental studies on the machining of CFRP were
carried out, where the machining parameters namely cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut,
were varied. Three types of cutting tool inserts namely, uncoated tungsten carbides, ceramic
and cubic boron nitride (CBN), were used to machine two types of specimens, short
(discontinuous) and long (continuous) fiber carbon epoxy composites. For short carbon fiber
composites, experimental data shows that the tool wear, the surface finish and the cutting
force fluctuate with respect to the depth of cut, the feed rate and the cutting speed. However,
for long fiber carbon composites, for a fixed material removal rate, the tool wear was
minimum when the CFRP composites were machined at lower cutting speeds. In addition,
CBN inserts showed superior tool wear properties and better surface finish as compared to
tungsten carbide and ceramic inserts.
Palanikumar et al (2006) made an attempt to assess the influence of machining
parameters on the machining of GFRP composites. Design of experiments (full factorial
design) concept has been used for experimentation. The machining experiments were
conducted on all geared lathe using coated cermet tool inserts with two levels of factors. The
factors considered were cutting speed, work piece fiber orientation angle, depth of cut and
feed rate. A procedure has been developed to assess and optimize the chosen factors to attain
minimum surface roughness by incorporating:

30
(i) response table and response graph;
(ii) normal probability plot;
(iii) interaction graphs;
(iv) analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. Feed rate is the factor, which has greater
influence on surface roughness, followed by cutting speed.
The interaction between work piece fiber orientation and depth of cut has more influence
comparing with other interactions on surface roughness on themachining of GFRP
composites.
Abrao et al (2008) focused on the investigation of the effect of the cutting tool geometry and
material on the thrust force and delamination produced when drilling a glass fibre reinforced
epoxy composite. Four drills with distinct geometries and composition were tested.
Additionally, the influence of the cutting parameters was studied. Generally speaking, the
results indicated that lower thrust force was observed using drill EDP27199, whereas drill
A1167A (with three cutting edges) gave highest thrust force values. In contrast to other
reports, a direct relationship between thrust force and delamination was not observed, i.e., the
drill responsible for the highest thrust force was also responsible for the second smallest
delaminated area. Finally, within the cutting range tested the damaged area increased
considerably with feed rate and moderately with cutting speed. An et al (1998) studied the
influence of tool materials and tool geometries on cutting characteristics of glass-fibre-
reinforced plastic. It was observed that a tool with a straight edge performs better than a tool
having a round edge.
Naveen Sait et al (2008c) investigated the performance of K20 grade cemented carbide
cutting tools on machining of filament wound GFRP pipes and concluded that optimised
machining parameters through the application of DOE improves the flank wear, crater wear,
machining force and surface roughness by a significant level.
In another work, Naveen Sait et al (2008b) conducted experiments based on Taguchi
Technique to determine the surface damages on GFRP pipes made of hand layup method. It
was observed that feed rate is the significant machining parameter which affects most of the
quality of the machined surfaces. Arul et al (2006) evaluated the parametric influence on
cutting force and evaluated experimentally that the defects in drilling of composites are due
to thrust forces experienced by work piece.

31
 Chung-shin Chung (1998) conducted series of preliminary tests toassess the effect of tool
geometries of P and K type of chamfered main cuttingedge carbide tool on the tool wear,
cutting forces, work piece surfaceroughness and cutting temperature during the turning of
GFRP. Due to the Ktype tools superior hardness and wear resistance, as well as low
coefficient offriction together with high thermal conductivity, it was shown that chamfered
main cutting edge K type carbide tools sustained the least tool wear,compared to
unchamfered K and P type of tool. The cutting forces, cuttingtemperature and workpiece
surface roughness for the chamfered main cuttingedge of P type carbide tools in turning were
much higher than the chamferedmain cutting of K type carbide tools.
Abeesh et al (2008) presented an experimental work on the analysisof machined surface
quality on Al/SiCp composites leading to an artificialneural network-based (ANN) model to
predict the surface roughness. Thepredicted roughness of machined surfaces based on the
ANN model wasfound to be in very good agreement with the unexposed experimental data
set.The size of reinforcements in the composite material influences roughness ofthe machined
surfaces significantly when its magnitude is comparable to thatof the feed-rate and the tool-
nose radius employed during machining of thecomposite material. The best surface quality
was obtained at the lowest valueof feed-rate, the smaller particle size and the largest tool-
nose radius.
The effects of hole machining defects on strength and fatigue life ofcarbon/epoxy
laminates subjected to static and fatigue loading are studied byErik Persson et al (2006). The
KTH method, a new method which givesdefect-free holes, was used to machine holes in the
specimens. The hole in thelaminate is machined both axially and radially by rotating the
cutting toolabout its own axis as well as eccentrically about a principal axis while feeding the
tool through the laminate. In all types of testing and loading, KTHspecimens yielded the
highest strengths and PCD specimens the lowest.Investigation on the influence of cutting
parameters on the specific cuttingpressure and surface roughness using cemented carbide and
poly crystallinediamond cutting tools by Paulo Davim et al (2003) confirmedthat feed rate
has the highest influence on surface roughness. Paulo Davim& Francisco (2005, 2007) and
Francisco Mata investigated the machinability in turningprocesses of glass fibre reinforced
plastics (GFRP) manufactured by hand layup.A plan of experiments was performed on
controlled machining withcutting parameters prefixed in workpiece. A statistical technique,
usingorthogonal arrays and analysis of variance (ANOVA), has been employed toknow the

32
influence of cutting parameters on specific cutting pressure andsurface roughness.
Machinability of these materials is evaluated as a functionof cutting tool (polycrystalline
diamond and cemented carbide tools). A newmachinability index has been proposed.
Ramkumar et al (2002, 2004) suggested that the microwave radiation can be a potential post
sintering technique for cemented carbide tools to improve the machinability ofcomposites. He
also developed superimposing oscillatory vibration tominimize the damage arising during the
drilling of GFRP composite andproved that the cutting force is reduced with less damage and
tool wear whencompared with conventional drilling. Previous studies indicated that,
thesurface roughness increases with higher cutting speed (Keizo Sakuma
&MasafumiSeto1979). The higher cutting speed was found to cause a largedeformation rate
of glass fiber and severe tool wear (Santhanakrishnan et al 1988) and hence the cutting speed
has been set at low level and in between 75and 175 m/min. Fiber orientation angle plays an
important role for decidingthe surface roughness (Palanikumar 2004 Palanikumar et al
2004).Experiments and analysis indicated that the surface roughness fluctuated fordifferent
fiber orientation and it is more at higher fiber orientation angle. Atlarger fiber angles,
compressive strain is generated within the work material. This resulted in larger surface
roughness. Kulkarni et al (2010) and Nie et al (2011) developed two similar multiscale
models to evaluate the effect of interfacial strength on the elastic modulus of CNT/CF fibre
reinforcedpolymer composites and modelled a nanocomposite formed by a single
CNTembedded in the epoxy matrix and numerically predicted the overallmechanical
properties of the nanocomposite. By considering cohesive zonemodelling a commonly used
technique to investigate the failure governed by crack or debonding propagation. It
establishes the traction-separation relationfor the interface and bridges the gap between the
stress- and energy-basedapproaches (Chandra et al 2002). Many studies have been carried out
on theinterfacial behaviours of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) (Taljsten 1996 Tenget al
2006) by using cohesive zone modelling. Surface finish is an importantparameter in
machining process. Surface roughness has received seriousattentions for many years. It has
formulated an important design feature inmany situations such as parts subject to fatigue
loads, precision fits, fastenerholes and aesthetic requirements. In addition to tolerances,
surface roughnessimposes one of the most critical constraints for selection of machines
andcutting parameters in process planning (Feng & Xian Feng 2002). Orthogonal cutting
tests carried out on unidirectional glass-fibre-reinforced plasticsrevealed that the frictional

33
force generated by the chip sliding up the tool faceis negligible, so that the tool face–chip
interaction results in a force practicallynormal to the face itself (Caprino et al 1996). The
forces arising at the toolflank and cutting edge are a considerable part of the overall cutting
forces. Ifthey are correctly taken into account, a unit cutting force X independent of thedepth
of cut and a dynamic coefficient of friction f practically unaffected bythe cutting parameters
can be defined.
Rajasekaran et al (2005) carried out an experimental study, inwhich turning operation was
carried out using carbide cutting tool on a carbonfiber reinforced polyester resin to measure
its surface roughness. A fuzzy rulebased model was developed to predict surface roughness
of parts which aremade by turning operation. It was observed that there exists a good
correlation between the surface roughness’s obtained from experimental aswell as fuzzy rule
based prediction. Cemented carbide cutting tools are usedfor machining next to
polycrystalline diamond materials. This is preferredowing to its lower cost than the other
tools. It has given satisfactoryperformance for machining CFRP materials. The cutting
parameter whichplays a dominant role in deciding the surface roughness when
machiningCFRP using cemented carbide cutting tool is feed.
Santiuste et al (2010) studied the failure of GFRP and CFRPmaterials through FEM
simulations and concluded that GFRP materialsexhibit progressive failure under machining
conditions and CFRP materialexhibit catastrophic failure with less or no progressive damage.
They alsoconcluded that the subsurface damage due to machining is less in CFRPmaterial
when compared with GFRP material.
3.6 Optimization of machining parameters
Khan et al (1997) studied about machining condition optimizationby genetic algorithms
and simulated annealing. Genetic algorithms andsimulated annealing as optimization methods
for solving the benchmarkmodels is used and it was concluded that genetic algorithms,
simulated annealing and the continuous simulated annealing which are non-gradientbased
optimization techniques are reliable and accurate for solving machiningoptimization
problems and offer certain advantages over gradient basedmethods. All three methods
converge to global minima and do not require anygradient information. This property makes
these methods suitable fordiscontinuous functions.
Neelesh et al (2007) studied about the Optimization of processparameters of mechanical
type advanced machining processes using geneticalgorithms. Optimization of process

34
parameters of four mechanical typeAMPs namely ultrasonic machining (USM), abrasive jet
machining (AJM),water jet machining (WJM), and abrasive-water jet machining
(AWJM)processes using genetic algorithms gives the details of formulation ofoptimization
models, solution methodology used, and optimization results.Traditional optimization
methods were found unsuitable to solve suchproblems and therefore real coded version of the
GA was used for solving theformulated optimization models.
Krishnamurthy et al (2009) studied Application of grey fuzzylogic for the optimization
of drilling parameters for CFRP composites withmultiple performance characteristics.
Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array is usedto perform drilling of CFRP composite plates. To
improve the quality of theholes drilled, the optimal combination of drilling parameters is
chosen usinggrey relational analysis. Grey fuzzy optimization of drilling parameters isbased
on five different output performance characteristics, namely, thrustforce, torque, entry
delamination, exit delamination and eccentricity of theholes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
is used to find the percentagecontribution of the drilling parameters and observed that feed
rate is the mostinfluential factor in drilling of CFRP composites. Also it was found that
ANOVA statistics revealed that feed rate is the most influencing parameter inachieving good
results, followed by spindle speed and point angle.
Gunaraj&Murugan (1999) have highlighted the use of RSM todevelop mathematical
models and plot contour graphs relating importantinput parameters namely the open-circuit
voltage, wire feed-rate, weldingspeed and nozzle- to-plate distance to some responses
namely, the
penetration, reinforcement, width and percentage dilution of the weld bead inSubmerged Arc
Welding of pipes. Bagci&Isik (2006) conducted turningtests on GFRP rods using cermet
tools and proposed artificial neural network(ANN) model and a response surface (RS) model
to predict surface roughnesson the machined surface. Luong &Spedding (1995) developed
neuralnetwork system for predicting machining. Chung Chu & Saini (2002) usedonline tool
wear estimation in CNC turning operations using fuzzy neuralnetwork behavior.
NihatTosun& Latif Ozler (2002) studied tool life in hot machiningusing artificial neural
networks and developed a regression analysis to predicttool life. Mkaddem et al (2008)
presented a model with mean error of 6% byconducting machining simulations using a micro
macro simulation approachon a unidirectional GFRP material in which the cutting force
increases withan increase in the fiber orientation angle and compared the results to the

35
existing literature. Aravindan et al (2010) optimized the machiningparameters using
statistical techniques and developed an empirical model todetermine the percentage of
improvement in tool wear and surface. NaveenSait et al (2010) analysed the effect of
machining parameters on materialcharacteristics of GFRP pipes made of handlayup method
and optimizedthrough simple regression and cross product regression methods.
From the survey of literature, it was observed that no valuabletheory is available for
machining bidirectional fiber composite materialsbased on cutting force and surface
roughness. Hence, an attempt is made tocompare the machining characteristics using Design
of Experiments andoptimize the machining parameters for minimum cutting force and
minimumsurface roughness using Taguchi method and Gray Relational analysis. This study
focuses onquantifying the amount of force acting on cutting tool, material removal rateand
the quality of machined surface when carrying out milling operation oncomposite material
made of CFRP and Hybrid composite material manufacturedby hand layup method. The
objective is to develop a machining model topredict material removal rate, surface roughness
and cutting force in terms ofcutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut and to identify the effect
of process parameters on cutting force and surface roughness. The machining parametersare
optimized for minimum cutting force and surface roughness andmaximum material removal
rate. The machinability between CFRP materialand Hybrid composite material with
bisphenol as resin is compared and a newmachinability index is proposed. The objective is
achieved by conducting slotting experiments on composite material of CFRP and Hybrid
composite material of different diameter pipes at various spindle speeds, depth of cut andfeed
rates, and analyzing the resulting data on material removal rate, resultantforce acting on
cutting tool and surface roughness using statistical methods.

3.7 Machining of fiber reinforced polymer material

A significant amount of research work has been carried out in applying turning
processes to the various FRP composites with different cutting tools. Turning, together with
drilling, milling and sawing, belongs tothe most important cutting technologies for the
machining of FRP .Turning differs from milling and sawing mainly because an almost
constant engagement of the tool exists. Apart from fluctuations in stress caused by the
different cutting behaviour of the fibres and the matrix, a quasi-continuous cut exists during
turning of FRP. The machinability of FRP is primarily determined by the physical properties of

36
the fibres and the matrix as well as by the fibre orientation and volume fraction. While glass
and carbon fibresbreak in a brittle manner under bending stresses, aramid fibres undergo
shearing fracture under high deformation bending and tear under tensile loading. Moreover,
the machining of shortfibre reinforced composites is much easier than that of unidirectional
FRP. Although the cutting of FRP composite parts is rarely desired, it can be seldom avoided
for the production of the final geometry, surface quality, and form accuracy of
conventionallyproduced parts. Turning is applied to rotation-symmetric parts such as drag
links, bearings, spindles, axles, rolls, or steering columns, etc. Particular attention was given
by several researchers to the aspects of tool wear mechanisms and development in turning of
FRP composites with the aim of establishing correct cutting tool selection criteria. Among the
possible wear mechanisms, which include abrasion, adhesion, tribo-oxidation and
surfacedamage, only abrasion, surface damage and sometimes adhesion are of significance
for FRP machining. Wear mechanisms are primarily related to the physical and mechanical
characteristics of the different fibre-matrix systems. Glass and carbon fibres show a strong
abrasive behavior, because they are extremely abrasive by nature. Aramid fibres, on the other
hand,impair the tool due to their low heat conductivity and ductile behavior. Adhesive wear
occurs when carbonized or molten matrix depositions settle on the tool surfaces. A survey on
the possibilities and variants of application in turning of different types of FRP (polyester
glass, epoxy-glass, and polyamide-carbon) with carbide, diamond coated, PCD and CBN
tools were presented (Hyde 1990). An analysis of tool wear during turning of GFRP
andCFRP with diamond coated tools was carried out (Varadarajan et al 2002).The
dominating wear mechanisms during cylindrical turning such as cutting edge blunting,
elimination of the coating layer, retreat of the cutting edge, and crater wear formation were
characterized and their development was explained. The machinability of GFRP in precision
turning by means of tools made of various materials and geometries was investigated
experimentally (Weinert& Lange 2003).It was found that, by proper selection of the tool
material and geometry, excellent machining of the work piece is achieved and the surface
quality relates closely to the feed rate and the tool. Flank wear as well as retreat and rounding
of the cutting edge are the most frequently observed wear effects during cutting of FRP
(Dandekar& Shin 2010, Park 1996, Ranjit 2001). Hereby, the wear speed is mainly related to
the fibrecontent (Dandekar& Shin 2010). Furthermore, crater wear occurs only to a minor
extent (Hyde 1990). The cause for this wear behaviour results from the discontinuous chip

37
formation during cutting of FRP. Hence, fracture on theface occurs only to a minor extent,
whereas fracture on the flank is the main reason for the examined wear types (Weinert&
Lange 2003).The selection of a large clearance angle is therefore recommended to improve
the tool life.
However, it must be noted that this causes a weakening of the tool that may promote
cutting edge chipping. Thus, an optimum clearance angle has to be determined for every tool.
Investigations on cutting of CFRP showed that the hardness and microstructure of the cutting
edge for various PCD tools exert a significant influence on the effectiveness of FRP
machining (Ranjit 2001, Ghani et al 2004). Coarse-grained PCD tools, in particular, reveal
higher resistance to wear than medium- and fine-grained PCD types. The wear appears in the
form of cutting edge rounding, chipping and crack formation on the different PCD types.
Carbide tools also display a flank wear, yet more irregularly and with a tool life significantly
shorter in comparison. The wear is characterised by scratches and chippings. A longer tool
life is achieved by PCD and TIC or TaC free carbide types due to their higher thermal
conductivity, pressure strength and wear resistance. Interrupted cutting during turning of
CFRP causes a higher wear than continuous cutting with carbide tools under equal cutting
conditions. Tool wear was studied during turning of GFRP with carbide and PCD tools and
obtained good results (Park 1996).Yet, the wear for these two tool materials is considerably
different. Carbide tools exhibit mostly flank wear and rounding of the cutting edge. Crater
wear does not occur in any significant way but carbonised chip material is deposited on the
tool rake face during cutting. PCD tools also show flank wear. However, the rate of wear
development is clearly slower in comparison with that for carbide tools. Furthermore, the
cutting speeds attainable with PCD tools are much higher than those possible with carbide
tools. Lin & Chen (1996) investigated the influence of cutting tool geometry and material on
the thrust force and delamination produced when drilling a glass fibrereinforced composite
and observed that drilling a Carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite with carbide twist drill
provided lower thrust force and torque compare to a carbide multifaceted drill. In another
work, Naveen Sait et al (2010) analyzed the quality of the machined surfaces of GFRP pipes
made by hand layup process and observed that debonding and fiber breakage often takes
place in the case of conventional cutting conditions and feed rate is the significant machining
parameter which affects most the quality of the machined surfaces. In another work, Naveen
Sait et al (2008a) conducted experiments as per Taguchi design and machining characteristics

38
were investigated based on surface roughness and tool wear. The machining parameters were
optimized using statistical technique. An empirical model was also developed to determine
the percentage of improvement in tool wear and surface finish.
Mohan et al (2005) analyzed the influence of machining parameters on cutting
force during drilling of glass-fibre reinforced composite with the help of a commercially
available software package MINITAB14. Jahromi& Bahr (2010) proposed a theoretical
model based on material mechanical properties of the FRP and concluded that their model
works well
when fracture plane angle is between 90° and 180°. Hintze et al (2011)investigated the
machining of CFRPs during slot milling experiments and observed that occurrence of
delamination is closely related to tool wear and top layer fiber cutting angle. Lopez de
Lacalle et al (2009) studied the performance of multi-tooth cutting tools during the trimming
process of CFRPs. They found that the performance of multi-tooth cutting tools with TiAlN
coating was superior to straight edge PCD tools for finishing operations. In this study, a PCD
tool is selected to investigate cutting forces during milling of unidirectional CFRP laminates.
3.7.1 Machining
Machining is a broad term used to describe removal of material from a workpiece in the
form of chips of various types such as continuous, discontinuous, etc,. Traditional materials
such as steel, aluminum and their alloys are isotropic, because they have same properties
irrespective of the direction of measurement. But in the case of CFRP materials, the
properties vary with respect to the direction. Also properties of material vary layer by layer.
This is because the way in which these materials are reinforced. Thus they are considered to
be anisotropic and heterogeneous. Though composite materials are manufactured to near net
shape, machining is found to be necessary to achieve desired dimensional tolerance [37,38].
Machining of composites has been undertaken to a large extent because of its increasing use
in replacing conventional materials for various applications. Also to acquire a finished
product after manufacturing processes using hand lay-up, filament winding, or pultrusion,
etc., it is realized that machining is often required on these composite materials and even to
transform the raw material from one shape to another shape of interest [39].
Machining data for metallic materials could be obtained either from the machining data
book or from manuals supplied by manufacturers or from the knowledge of experienced
operators. But in the case of composite materials, these data can not be applied directly,

39
because of their inherent nature. This is the reason for composite materials to be categorized
under a different category, which essentially needs understanding the mechanism of
machining. Though they excel in performance, their machining is accompanied by some
problems such as surface delamination, fiber and or resin pullout, high tool wear, and health
hazardous due to powdery chip, difference in coefficient of linear expansion of fiber and
resin, difference in physical properties of fiber and resin [40,41].
Once the material is machined, then it is the concern of how good its surface would be.
CFRP is also not exceptional to this criterion. Surface roughness of CFRP composites
requires more and more analysis due to the presence of abrasive nature of fibers [42]. Surface
roughness is one of the important parameters in the evaluation of accuracy in machined
components.
Though, various factors such as work material, cutting tool material, machine tool
condition, cutting fluid, etc., affect the surface roughness of any machined component,
machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed and depthof cut have great influence [43].
3.7.2 Significance of Machining
Even though composite materials are produced near to the net shape, subsequent
machining is often necessary to acquire the desirable surface quality and dimensional
accuracy [44-50]. But due to the excellent mechanical properties, their heterogeneity,
sensitivity to heat, and the extremely abrasive nature of fibers, machining of fiber reinforced
composite materials is perceived as a highly difficult task [51-55].
3.7.3 Types of Machining
Various types of machining operations could be broadly classified into two; conventional
and unconventional machining operations. Conventional machining operations for machining
FRP composite materials further includes turning, milling, shaping, grinding, drilling, etc.
The unconventional machining operations includes laser beam machining, water jet
machining, abrasive jet machining.
3.7.3.1 Turning
This operation is one of the most basic and versatile machining processes [56,57]. When
turning, a piece of material (wood, metal, plastic, or stone) is rotated and a cutting tool is
traversed along two axes of motion to produce precise diameters and depths. Turning can be
either on the outside of the cylinder or on the inside, which is known as boring to produce

40
tubular components to various geometries. The bits of waste material from turning operations
are known as chips, or swarf. Turning is necessary where tight tolerances on dimensions and
finishes are required. It is also commonly used as a secondary process to add or refine
features on parts that were manufactured using different processes. In turning, the speed and
motion of the cutting tool is specified through several parameters. These parameters are
selected for each operation based upon the workpiece material, tool material, tool size, and
more.
Santhanakrishnan et al. [58] attempted to carry out turning operation on glass epoxy
composite tubes. Surface roughness was better when cutting speed was high with low feed
rate, but the surface roughness of composite was high when compared with the homogeneous
materials. Mechanism of material removal was plowing the base material with deformation
and shearing of fibers. With severe nose wear, flank and secondary wear was fairly uniform
while a mild crater was observed on the rake face.
3.7.3.2 Drilling
Gaitonde et al. [59] carried out high speed drilling operation on carbon fiber reinforced
plastic component. Delamination was examined by varying the different process parameters
such as cutting speed, feed rate and point angle. Cemented carbide tools were used for the
conduction experiments. The experiments reveal that the delamination tendency decreases
with the increasing cutting speed.
Arul et al. [60] employed acoustic emission sensing for online monitoring and improving
the process stability by minimizing associated effects. This experiment was taken to satisfy
the requirement of increasing demand for monitoring and diagnostic systems to be used in
automation of industrial environments.
3.7.3.3 Milling
Hocheng et al. [61] had a preliminary study on milling of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy
composites. Cutting mechanism in milling was fracture rather than plastic deformation. Chips
produced during any operation including milling can be hazardous to human. Different
modes of breakage of fibers are an indication to the efforts taken by cutting force
components.
A significant number of studies have been directed towards measurement and prediction
of surface roughness and cutting forces. The reason for cutting forces during machining is

41
due to the fact that cutting forces generated during material removal have a direct influence
on the generation of heat, tool wear and quality of machined surface [62,63].
Milling is one of the most important machining processes in manufacturing parts made out
of FRPs. However, unlike the milling of metalswhich is characterised by high material
removal rates, milling of FRPs is conducted at much lower scale. The reason for this is that
FRP components are largely made near net shape and any subsequent milling is limited
mainly to de-burring and trimming as well as to achieving contour shape accuracy (Jamal and
Sheikh, 2009)[1]. The use of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites in
engineering applications such as automotive, aircraft and manufacture of space ships and sea
vehicles industries have been increased considerably in recent years due to their light weight,
high modulus, specific strength,superior corrosion resistance, high fracture toughness
andresistance to chemical and microbiological attacks (Hull andClyne, 1996)[2]. CFRP
composite materials are extremely abrasive when machined. Thus, the selection of the cutting
tool and the cutting parameters is very important in the machining process (Rahmanh et al.,
1999)[3]. Milling composite materials are significantly affected by the tendency of these
materials to delaminate under the action of machining forces, cutting force, feed force
anddepth force, respectively. With regard to improving the quality of the machined surface,
some problems, such as surface delamination and fibre/resin pull out, must be showed. In
order to reduce these problems, and achieve the desired quality of the machined surface, it is
necessary to understand the cutting mechanisms of material removal, and the kinetics of
machining processes affecting the performance of the cutting tools (Sreejith et al., 2000)[4].
Precise machining needs to be performed to ensure the dimensional stability and interface
quality (Ferreira et al., 1999)[5]. However, the structural properties of this material
complicate the finish machining process, leading to difficulties in quality control. The
machining of composite is different from the conventional machining of metal due to the
composite’s anisotropic and non-homogeneous nature (Ramkumar et al., 2004)[6].The works
of various authors (Koplev et al., 1983; Kaneeda, 1989; PuwandHocheng,1995;
Santhanakrishman et al., 1988; Ramulu et al., 1994), when reporting on milling composite
materials, have shown that the surface quality (surface roughness), and delamination factor is
strongly dependent on cutting parameters, tool geometry and cutting forces[7-11]. Davim et
al. (2004) investigated the effect of cutting parameters (cutting speed and feed rate) on
surface roughness and delamination during milling of CFRP composite using solid carbide

42
(K10) end mills with two and six flutes[12]. After the prepreg preparation, lay-up and
autoclave processes, milling techniques (such as edge milling, surface milling, trimming)
were used to machine the material to its nominal dimensions [13-17] and to obtain the net
shaped parts with low tolerances and high quality surfaces. Milling is the most frequently
used machining operation to obtain the net shaped parts with low tolerances and high quality
surfaces [18].However, some failures/damages are also observed in milling of these materials
as observed in other laminated composite materials.
3.7.4 Problems Encountered in CFRP Machining
Problems arise during machining of CFRP composites are rarely experienced with that of
the conventional materials that are due to their inherent nature such as inhomogeneous,
anisotropy and abrasivity. Due to the availability of machine tools and development of
various cutting tools, conventional machining is always possible for machining CFRP
composites.
Due to the highly abrasive nature of carbon fiber present in CFRP composites, selection
of cutting tools and machining parameters is crucial in the process of machining composite
materials. The characteristics during machining vary with respect to the fiber orientation of
each workpiece. Thus it is vital to study the machining characteristics of CFRP composites.
Several experiments have been carried out to understand the process of machining composite
materials. Machining of uni-directional fiber graphite-epoxy with different fiber orientation
also has been undertaken. Tool presses on the composite in the front side creating a fracture
so as to produce a chip.
3.7.5 CNC milling machine
All end milling tests were performed on the Centroid 1050A CNC vertical milling
machine of 28 kW power, maximum spindle speed of 6,000 RPM with 3 linear and 2 rotary
axes, Figure 3.3. This CNC milling centre is versatile and highly rigid that include
multifunctional use for milling, drilling, taping and some basic turning processes. The wide
machinable envelope or area of 1000 mm x 500 mm makes this machine capable of
machining medium size components which are commonly used in industry. All of the
machining experiments were conducted under dry cutting conditions. With regard to this, a
vacuum cleaner was used to handle the dust-like and hazardous chips Experimental
Procedure 70 produced during machining. This is to minimise chip interference that could

43
lead to local heat accumulation in the cutting zone. In addition, this was carried out as a
safety precaution for the machine operator and to avoid damage to the guide-ways of the
CNC machine due to the highly abrasive and fine glass fibre chips. Specially written CNC
code was programmed to facilitate the table/tool movement in which a slot or groove is
created after each end milling pass, resulting in a full immersion cutting, Figure 3.4. The full
immersion of the tool provides an up cut milling during tool edge entrance whilst down
milling as the tool edge exits the workpiece material. This allows the study of difference
morphology of the milled surface on the basis of tool sharpness and cutting mechanisms.

Figure: 3.3 CNC milling machine

3.8 Delamination
Delamination being in the first place, these failures are fiber breakage, uncut fibers and
tool wear. The emerging minimization of such surface defects, minimum tool wear and
minimum surface roughness in the processing of these materials are among the issues
targeted by the many researchers. The knowledge of cutting mechanisms is indispensable in
view of cutting mechanics and machinability assessment in milling [19,20]. Surface
roughness is a parameter that has a greater influence on dimensional precision, performance
of mechanical pieces and on production costs. For these reasons, research developments have
been carried out with the purpose of optimising the cutting conditions to reach a specific
surface roughness [21,22]. For achieving the desired quality of the machined surface, it is

44
necessary to understand the mechanisms of material removal, the kinetics of machining
processes affecting the performance of the cutting tools [23].

Figure :3.4 Delamination factor by using digital Vernier caliper

3.9 Applications
CFRP is being used in various fields of commercial as well as industrial segments, which
include aircraft, space, automotive, sporting goods, marine, infrastructure, to name a few. Its
application could expand into electronics for making the printed circuit boards, in
construction, for building floor beams [21-23], for the fabrication of chair springs.
The potential properties of CFRP such as stiffness and strength accompanied with the low
weight and easiness in manufacturing overcome the difficulties in the fields of medical
industry namely bone plates for fracture fixation, implants, prosthetics and orthodontics [24].
With the introduction of carbon fiber, carbon fiber reinforced epoxy has become the leading
material in many wing, fuselage and empennage components. The structural integrity and
durability of these materials proved their performance have been increased and prompted the
developments in the other areas of structural aircraft components, which leads to the
increasing quantity of composites being used in military aircrafts also.
The application of components made from high strength carbon fiber reinforced epoxy
began with selective secondary structural components for the commercial aircraft. A vertical
stabilizer that is made from composite was about 400 kg lighter than the aluminum vertical
stabilizer previously used.
Its application includes aircraft, automobile, sports, marine bodies, plastic pipes, storage
tanks, aesthetics [25-28]. Its application extends to concrete structures also. The reasons are
due to its low density, so as to save 20% to 50% when compared with metallic materials [29],
higher strength-to-weight ratios, higher modulus-to-weight ratios, high specific strength of
0.83 GN/m2 [30], high specific stiffness, good corrosion resistance, good fatigue

45
performance, high damping and low thermal expansion [31-36]. Therefore they are superior
substitutes when compared with the metallic materials.
Its use expands to build light weight aircrafts, satellites and cars. As far as automotive
industrial applications are concerned, it finds a number of applications for making drive
shafts, floor panels. In addition, steel drive shafts are successfully replaced with CFRP
composites to achieve weight reduction and high rigidity.
Example for customizing the properties of CFRP composites is aerofoil shape of an
aircraft wing that could be controlled by appropriately adjusting the fiber orientation angle in
each layer and the stacking sequence so as to resist the varying lift and drag loads along its
span.

46
 CHAPTER-4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF CFRP COMPOSITE
MACHINING
4.1 Introduction
As discussed in Chapter 3, various conventional machining processes, namely turning,
drilling and milling have been used to machine composite materials in order to meet their
different geometrical requirements and control dimensional tolerances. Despite the existing
experience and knowledge in machining homogeneous materials such as metals, it has been a
challenge to maintain consistent results in terms of machining quality and performance for
composite materials, particularly the FRP composites. Summarising on some of the reported
studies while milling FRP composites, it can be concluded that a complete milling
machinability evaluation for GFRP composites using a proper ‘design of experiment’
technique has not been fully or adequately addressed. Earlier, the literature review chapter
has elaborated that Puw and Hocheng were the first to investigate the milling machinability
of uni-directional CFRP composites [71, 95]. However, the results of their study were purely
experimental. Until recently, only a handful of researchers have reported experimental results
on limited aspects of FRP’s milling machinability indices, such as machining forces and
delamination damage [72- 74, 76, 81, 83-85]. For instance, Davim et al. showed some
promising results with regard to surface quality and delamination damage while milling
woven type FRP composites [73-75], yet, their studies were limited to only two machining
parameters, namely, the feed rate and cutting speed.
Apart from that, the performance of other machinability response or indices, such as tool
wear and tool life, were not disclosed. In recent studies, Karpat et al. and Sheikh Ahmad et al.
have developed a mechanistic force prediction model during end milling of uni-directional
CFRP composites with different fibre orientations [77, 78, 81]. In spite of the extensive
results discussed, their studies were limited to relatively lower range of machining parameters
and did not consider the effect of tool wear. Therefore, this chapter addresses some of the
previous research limitations pertaining to machinability of FRP composites. It specifically
discusses the results of parametric study during end milling of uni-directional glass fibre-
reinforced polymer composites. The primary objective is to determine the factorial effects of
the selected machining parameters on the key machinability outputs. This has been achieved

47
through Taguchi design of experiment methodology, in which carefully designed trials of
different experimental factors and levels have been considered.
4.2 Design of Experiments
Extensive and expensive experimentations (e.g. time, labour, materials, etc.) would
typically be required to evaluate the machinability of a material. Hence, the experimental
approach of machinability assessments can be well achieved through statistically designed
tests or experiments, commonly known as the DOE. This methodology allows full factorial
experimentation as well as partial or fractional experimentation. Although full factorial
experiments may provide all the possible effects of experimental factors together with their
interactions, the scale of experimentations can be prohibitive for scientific investigations.
Realistically, fractional factorial approach through the Taguchi methodology, which involves
significantly fewer tests but with highly acceptable and reliable results, would be more
attractive.
The quality of design can be improved by improving the quality and productivity in
companywide activities. Those activities concerned with quality, include in quality of product
planning, product design and process design (Park 1996, Ghani et al 2004).Robust design is an
engineering methodology for obtaining product and process condition, which are minimally sensitive
to the various causes of variation, which produces high-quality products with low development and
manufacturing costs (Park 1996). Taguchi method offers the quality of product measured by quality
characteristics such as: nominal is the best, smaller is better and larger is better (Park 1996, Ghani et
al 2004). Optimization using Taguchi method in end milling using conceptual S/N ratio approach and
Pareto ANOVA precede the Taguchi’s robust design method and is suitable to analyze the metal
cutting problem. Taguchi’s parameter design is an important tool for robust design. It offers a simple
and systematic approach to optimize design for performance, quality and cost. Signal to noise ratio
and orthogonal array are two major tools used in robust design. Signal to noise ratio, which measures
quality with emphasis on variation, and orthogonal arrays, which accommodates many design factors
simultaneously (Weinert& Lange 2003 Dandekar& Shin 2010 ).Application of Taguchi’s method for
parametric design was carried out to determine an ideal feed rate and desired force combination.
Although small interactions exist between a horizontal feed rate and desired force, the experimental
results showed that surface roughness decreases with a slower feed rate and larger grinding force,
respectively (Weinert& Lange 2003). Conceptual S/N ratio approach of Taguchi method provides a
simple, systematic and efficient methodology for optimizing of process parameters and this approach
can be adopted rather than using engineering judgment. Furthermore, the multiple performance

48
characteristics such as tool life, cutting force, surface roughness and the overall productivity can be
improved by useful tool of Taguchi method (Weinert& Lange 2003).Naveen Sait et al (2009) applied
desirability function analysis in Taguchi technique as an effective tool for optimizing the machining
parameters of GFRP pipesand concluded that depth of cut is the significant machining parameter
followed by cutting velocity and feed rate for machining filament wound GFRP pipes and feed rate is
the significant machining parameter followed by depth of cut and cutting velocity for machining had
layup GFRP pipes. Thanigaivelan&Arunachalam (2013) investigated the effect and parametric
optimisation of process parameters for electrochemical micromachining of 304 stainless steel, using
grey relation analysis.

4.2.1 Taguchi experimental design

Taguchi started to develop new methods to optimize the process of engineering
experimentation. He believed that the best way to improve quality was to design and build it
into the product. He developed the techniques which are now known as Taguchi Methods.
His main contribution lies not in the mathematical formulation of the design of experiments,
but rather in the accompanying philosophy. His concepts produced a unique and powerful
quality improvement technique that differs from traditional practices. He developed
manufacturing systems that were “robust” or insensitive to daily and seasonal variations of
environment, machine wear and other external factors. The Taguchi approach to quality
engineering places a great deal of emphasis on minimizing variation as the main means of
improving quality. The idea is to design products and processes whose performance is not
affected by outside conditions and to build this in during the development and design stage
through the use of experimental design. The method includes a set of tables that enable main
variables and interactions to be investigated in a minimum number of trials. Taguchi Method
uses the idea of Fundamental Functionality, which will facilitate people to identify the
common goal because it will not change from case to case and can provide a robust standard
for widely and frequently changing situations[47]. Taguchi method is an immensely popular
statistical DOE approach that has been employed in diverse engineering applications. In this
methodology, experiments are systematically planned according to a specifically designed
orthogonal array (OA) that can reduce the number of experiments [48]. Within a column of
an array, each factor has an equal number of levels or appears at equal number of times. The
arrangement of an OA can also accommodate a number of experimental factors to allow the
study of their effects and interactions on the experimental output simultaneously. Very often,

49
Taguchi method permits the optimisation of the process parameters while minimising the
sensitivity to various sources of experimental variations.In grey relational analysis, black
represents having no information and white represents having all information. A grey system
has a level of information between black and white. In other words, in a grey system, some
information is known and some information is unknown. In a white system, the relationships
among factors in the system are certain; in a grey system, the relationships among factors in
the system are uncertain [49,50]. Grey relational analysis is an impacting measurement
method in grey system theory that analyzes uncertain relations between one main factor and
all the other factors in a given system. In the case when experiments are ambiguous or when
the experimental method cannot be carried out exactly, grey analysis helps to compensate for
the shortcomings in statistical regression [51].
4.2.2 Experimental layout and selection of machinability parameters
The unique characteristics of CFRP composites affect their machinability differently
from those of the homogenous materials. Based on literature search discussed in Chapter 2,
physical properties of CFRP composites; e.g. fibre orientations and types, volume fractions,
and matrix material, greatly influence the machinability of these composites apart from the
processing and tooling parameters. The processing and tooling parameters, on the other hand,
can include spindle or cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, tool materials and their
geometries. Such a large number of influencing factors add to the complexity of experimental
investigations. In this part of the work, only machining or processing parameters are
considered for the parametric analysis of their significant influence. In fact, the results of this
parametric analysis are used to reduce the number of machining parameters to facilitate the
future work on developing machinability prediction model, which takes into account the most
important parameters. It is worthwhile to emphasise that the end milling operation was
performed along the fibre or table/tool feed direction, x, previously shown in Figure 4.1. As
outlined earlier, workpiece material used was the uni-directional carbon T- 300
fibrereinforced epoxy matrix. Machining was performed under dry condition or without any
coolant using the uncoated tungsten carbide cutting tool. Primary objective of the present
work is to elucidate/ understand the effect of machining parameters on three machinability
outputs, e.g. surface roughness and delamination factor. This has been achieved through the
Taguchi DOE methodology. Different levels of low, designated as (1), medium (2) and high
(3), for each parameters, Table 4.1, encompassing a typical range of machining parameters

50
employed in the industry, were selected for experimentation The justifications for selecting
those parameters and three levels settings were twofold:
(1) To incorporate all possible processing parameters and their respective ranges, and
(2) To investigate any nonlinear effects these parameters have on the key machinability
output.
However, this resulted in a premature failure of the cutting tool with chipping on the tool
edges. Partially, this could be due to the nature of intermittent or discontinuous cutting action
in milling as the tool encounters in-homogeneous layers of fibre reinforcement and epoxy
matrix. It is worth noting that the speed of lower than 2,000 RPM is deemed to be low as far
as machining productivity is concerned. On the other hand, a higher spindle speed of above
6,000 RPM leads to rapid tool wear. Consequently, a rotations speed of 3,000–5,000 RPM
However, this resulted in a premature failure of the cutting tool with chipping on the tool
edges. Partially, this could be due to the nature of intermittent or discontinuous cutting action
in milling as the tool encounters in-homogeneous layers of fibre reinforcement and epoxy
matrix. It is worth noting that the speed of lower than 2,000 RPM is deemed to be low as far
as machining productivity is concerned. On the other hand, a higher spindle speed of above
6,000 RPM leads to rapid tool wear. Consequently, a rotations speed of 3,000–5,000 RPM

Figure 4 .1 End milling operation was performed along the fibre or table/tool feed direction, x
was set as suitable test range for the spindle speed. As indicated in the previous studies [71,
73, 74, 76], the employed feed rates were reported to be within the range of 200–800 mm/min

51
when milling CFRP composites. The selection of feed rate range during machining is critical
because it determines the surface quality of the machined components. A value less than
those reported in the literature would diminish machining productivity, whereas a higher
value would accelerate heat generation, increase machining forces and enhance the tool wear.
The reduction of tool sharpness deteriorates the surface quality; as a result, the 500–1,000
mm/min range of feed rate was found to be appropriate. It is necessary to highlight that
although the depth of cut plays a small role during metal machining, its range was selected to
be 1–2 mm. In fact this range is in accordance with previous studies on machining or end
milling CFRP composites.

Table 4.1: Assignment of the levels to the factors.

Levels
Process
Factors parameters Units Notation 1 2 3
A Spindle speed Rpm N 1000 2500 4000
B Feed rate mm/min f 100 200 300
C Depth of cut Mm t 0.5 1.5 2.5

In the traditional full factorial experimentation, 27 trials would be needed to complete the
entire experimental work of three factors at three levels. However, based on the selected
parameters and their levels, the parametric study could well be performed using the L9
Taguchi OA. Under this OA, nine experimental runs would be required to complete the array.
Hence, the Taguchi experimental layout is arranged according to Table 4.2 with each trial
performed in a random order so that any chances of systematic error during measurement of
the machinability outputs can be minimised. Interactions of the main factors (factors with the
highest percentage contribution from the Pareto ANOVA analysis) were also considered. It is
vital to note that the effects of factorial interactions are normally marginal based on reported
studies of the others (under a different domain of machinability tests) [91].

52
Table4. 2: Milling parameters with their levels.
Exp. Surface roughness
No. A B C (Ra in µm ) Delamination factor (FD)
1 1000 100 0.5 1.41 1.05
2 1000 200 1.5 1.81 1.08
3 1000 300 2.5 2.36 1.12
4 2500 100 1.5 1.94 1.09
5 2500 200 2.5 2.15 1.1
6 2500 300 0.5 1.6 1.07
7 4000 100 2.5 2.41 1.15
8 4000 200 0.5 1.26 1.01
9 4000 300 1.5 1.61 1.08

Taguchi recommends the average value of experimental response and its corresponding
signal to noise ratio (S/N) of each experimental run in order to analyse the effects of each
experimental parameter [97, 98]. Typically, the application of S/N ratio in the Taguchi
analysis is to determine a robust setting of experimental parameters so that the product or
process variables insensitive to the noise factors. S/N ratio has been chosen for the Taguchi
analysis because it represents both the average (mean) and variation (standard deviation) of
the experimental results [96-98]. Depending on the qualitative characteristics of the
experimental output, the S/N ratio can take up either ‘the lower the better’ or ‘the higher the
better’ category, given as:
4.3 surface roughness values
4.3.1 Optimization of individual performance characteristics
4.3.1.1 Determination of optimal process parameters for surface roughness
Taguchi L9 orthogonal array is utilized to establish the optimal process parameters.
Results of the experiments were showed by S/N ratio and ANOVA analysis. From Taguchi
lower- is – better characteristic is applied to know the optimal process parameter for surface
roughness. The surface roughness and S/N ratio for surface roughness is represented in table.

53
 Table4.3: Results of the experiments for Ra and S/N ratio.
Surface roughness
Exp.No. A B C (Ra) S/N ratio
1 1000 100 0.5 1.41 5.214
2 1000 200 1.5 1.81 5.325
3 1000 300 2.5 2.36 4.985
4 2500 100 1.5 1.94 5.415
5 2500 200 2.5 2.15 5.628
6 2500 300 0.5 1.6 5.214
7 4000 100 2.5 2.41 3.275
8 4000 200 0.5 1.26 7.124
9 4000 300 1.5 1.61 6.278

4.3.2 S/N ratio analysis for surface roughness (Ra)

The experimental design is established as orthogonal array, so the influence of individual
process parameters at different levels is separated. Aim of the research work is minimize the
surface roughness; therefore lower-is-better performance characteristic is applied to know the
optimal combined process parameter for (Ra). The response Table4.3 of mean S/N ratio for
Ra, selected optimal process parameters such as spindle speed at level-2, feed rate at level-1
and depth of cut atlevel-3 i.e., A2B1C3. Main effect plot for S/N ratio for surface roughness
is shown in Figure4.2.
.

54
 Figure : 4.2Measuring of surface roughness values

Table4.4:Response table for mean S/N ratio (Ra)

Process
Factors parameters Mean S/N ratio Rank
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Max-Min
A Spindle speed -5.199 -5.496 -4.595 0.901 2
B Feed rate -5.46 -4.603 -5.226 0.857 3
C Depth of cut -3.025 -5.015 -7.249 4.224 1

Total mean S/N ratio -5.096dB

Figure 4.3:Mean S/N graph for surface roughness

55
 Figure 4.4: Interaction plot for surface roughness
4.3.3 ANOVA for surface roughness
ANOVA is used to find out the significance of each individual process parameter on the
response. The results of ANOVA are presented in table4.4. From the Table4.4, it is clear that
depth of cut with P value is less than 0.05 that is the indication is consequence at 95%
confidence level. Since, depth of cut is highly influenced factor for surface roughness
(Ra)followed by feed rate and spindle speed.
Table4.5: ANOVA table for Ra.
Source DF SS MS F P
Spindle speed 2 0.03 0.015 0.069 0.934
Feed rate 2 0.05 0.025 0.117 0.892
Depth of cut 2 1.1827 0.5913 23.435 0.001
Error 2 0.1514 0.0252
Total 8 1.4141
S=0.188886 R-sq=94.65% R-sq(adj)=78.61%
4.3.4 Confirmation test for Ra
Table4.5 shows the confirmation experiment results by optimal combined process
parameters. Surface roughness in the machined work piece is reduced from 1.41µm to
1.24µm. Here increase of S/N ratio from initial combined process parameters to optimal
combined process parameter is 1.906dB and from confirmation test, Ra is reduced 12%.

Table4.6: Conformation results for Ra

Initial process parameter Optimal process parameters
Prediction Experiment
Level A1B1C1 A2B1C3
Ra 1.41 1.24
S/N ratio(dB) 5.214 7.32 7.12
Improvement of S/N ratio=1.906dB

56
 Figure 4.5: Mean S/N graph for delamination factor

Figure 4.6: Interaction plot for delamination factor

Main effect plot for S/N ratio for delamination factor is shown in Figure4.5.The
interaction effect between the process parameters on delamination factor is plotted in Figure
4.5The spindle speed has showed an approximate linear curve with no interaction with feed
rate. But depth of cut is important parameter which has strong interaction with spindle speed.
Similar interaction plot is observed for feed rate and depth of cut. The spindle speed is least
interaction with feed rate. And is observed that low delamination factor less than 1.05 is
arrived at a high spindle speed of 4000rpm, moderate feed rate of 200mm/min, and low depth
of cut of 0.5mm.

57
4.3.5 Determination of optimal process parameters for delamination factor
(FD)
Similarly, experimental design is established as orthogonal array for (FD), so the
significance of individual process parameters at different levels is separated. The objective of
the research work is minimizing the delamination factor; consequently, lower-is-better
performance characteristic is applied to know the optimal combined process parameter for
(FD). The S/N ratio for FDis presented in Table 6.2. Response Table6.3denotes means of S/N
ratio for FD. The obtained optimal combined process parameters such as spindle speed at
level-3, feed rate at level-2 and depth of cut atlevel-1 i.e., A3B2C1.
Table4.7: Results of the experiments for (FD) and S/N ratio.
Delamination factor
Exp.No. A B C (Fd) S/N ratio
1 1000 100 0.5 1.05 0.625
2 1000 200 1.5 1.08 0.724
3 1000 300 2.5 1.12 0.651
4 2500 100 1.5 1.09 0.758
5 2500 200 2.5 1.1 0.562
6 2500 300 0.5 1.07 0.468
7 4000 100 2.5 1.15 0.358
8 4000 200 0.5 1.01 1.056
9 4000 300 1.5 1.08 0.698

58
4.3.6 Analysis of S/N ratio for delamination factor (FD)

Table 4.8:Response table for mean S/N ratio (FD)

Process
Factors parameters Mean S/N ratio Rank
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Max-Min
A Spindle speed -0.69 -0.72 -0.65 0.065 3
B Feed rate -0.79 -0.52 -0.74 0.267 2
C Depth of cut -0.36 -0.69 -1 0.642 1
Total mean S/N ratio -0.684dB

4.3.7 ANOVA for delamination factor (FD)

ANOVA results for delamination factor are shown in Table 4.6. It is clear evident that
depth of cut with a P value is less than 0.05 that is the indication is significance at 95%
confidence level. Since, depth of cut is highly influenced factor for (F D) followed by followed
by feed rate and spindle speed.
Table 4.9: ANOVA table for FD.
Source DF SS MS F P
Spindle speed 2 0.0001 0 0.016 0.984
Feed rate 2 0.0019 0.0009 0.512 0.623
Depth of cut 2 0.0096 0.0048 9 0.016
Error 2 0.0032 0.0005
Total 8 0.0148
S=0.0251661 R-sq=90.10% R-sq(adj)=60.42%

4.3.8 Confirmation test for delamination factor (FD)

Table 4.10 represents the confirmation experiment results from optimal combined
process parameters. Delamination factorin the machined work piece is reduced from 1.05 to
1.01. Here increase of S/N ratio from initial combined process parameters to optimal
combined process parameter is 0.375 dB and from confirmation test, FDis reduced by1%.

59
 Table4.10: Conformation results for FD
Initial process parameter Optimal process parameters
Prediction Experiment
Level A1B1C1 A3B2C1
FD 1.05 1.01
S/N ratio(dB) 0.625 1.14 1
Improvement of S/N ratio=0.375dB

4.4 Optimal process parameter by using grey relational analysis

4.4.1 Grey Relational Analysis:
Grey relational analysis is actually a measurement of the absolute value of the data difference
between sequences, and it could be used to measure the approximate correlation between
sequences [52].In recent years, Deng [53] proposed applying the principles of grey relational
analysis. Grey relational analysis is a method of measuring degree of approximation among
sequences according to the grey relational grade. The theories of grey relational analysis have
already attracted much interest among researchers [54,55]. Some other researchers have
investigated the optimization of process parameters. Chang [56] had used the grey relational
analysis to optimize manufacturing processes. Lin et al. [57] applied further grey relational
analysis to design machining parameters.
Complication in multiple performance characteristics i.e., surface roughness and
delamination factor can be easily converted into single performance characteristic and
improved with grey relational grade. Systematic approach to optimize the design of
experiments Taguchi with Grey relational analysis has been performed in this study [23].
In grey relational analysis, the normalized data processing for surface roughness (Ra)and
delamination factor correspondingto lower-the-better criterion is determined as

60
 Max yi(k) -yi(k)
xi(k) =-----------------------------------------------------------(1)
maxyi(k) -minyi(k)

Eq. (1) is used for the “lower-the-better” response, where xi(k) is the value after grey
relational generation, min yi(k) is the smallest value ofyi(k) for the kth response, and the max
yi(k) is the largest value of yi(k) for the kth response. An idealsequence is xo(k) where (k= 2
forRa). The definition of grey relational gradein the course of grey relational analysis is to
reveal the relational degree between the nine sequences[xo(k) and xi(k), i =1, 2, 3… 9]. The

grey relational coefficient ξi(k) can be expressed a

∆min + ψ ∆max
ξi(k)=
∆oi(k)+ ψ∆max

Where∆oi= xo (k)-xi (k) differenceof the absolute value between xo (k) and xi (k);
Ψ= distinguishing coefficient between zero and one, the purpose of which is to weaken the
effect of∆maxwhen it gets too big, and thus enlarges the difference significance of the

relational coefficient. Inthe present case, ψ= 0.5 is used.

γ
After averaging the grey relational coefficients, the grey relational grade ican be calculated
asfollows:
1-n
γi= Ʃk=1 ξi (k)
n
Where n = number of process responses. The higher value of grey relational grade is
considered as thestronger relational degree between the ideal sequence x0(k) and the given
sequence xi (k). It has alreadybeen mentioned that the ideal sequence x0(k) is the best process
response in the experimental layout.The higher grey relational grade implies that the
corresponding parameter combination is closer to the optimal. The determination of Grey
relational grade is shown in Table4.11.

61
 Table 4.11: Grey relational grade (GRG) table
Grey
Grey relational Grey relational relational
Exp.No Responses generation Evaluation of ∆oi coefficient (ψ) garde
Ra FD Ra FD Ra FD Ra FD
1 1.41 1.05 0.124512 0.085456 0.15642 0.65422 0.254562 0.36251 0.308537
2 1.81 1.08 0.232543 0.235874 0.83256 0.95321 0.356831 0.31429 0.3355585
3 2.36 1.12 0.623176 0.854632 0.20387 0.89568 0.858686 0.24599 0.5523375
4 1.94 1.09 0.541268 0.745681 0.80324 0.52655 0.741584 0.32581 0.533699
5 2.15 1.1 0.785612 0.235698 0.63028 0.68935 0.328964 0.45206 0.3905125
6 1.6 1.07 0.095243 0.415231 0.96321 0.65897 0.254168 0.53692 0.395543
7 2.41 1.15 0.189455 0.145126 0.45231 0.69512 0.865402 0.32056 0.5929815
8 1.26 1.01 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
9 1.61 1.08 0.362541 0.745685 0.53219 0.9832 0.252524 0.35248 0.302503

4.4.2 Determination of optimal process parameters for Grey relational

grade
Table 4.12:S/N ratio and grey relational grade of performance characteristics
Grey-relational
Exp.No. A B C garde S/N ratio
1 1000 100 0.5 0.308537 -2.126
2 1000 200 1.5 0.3355585 -2.014
3 1000 300 2.5 0.5523375 -1.775
4 2500 100 1.5 0.533699 -1.783
5 2500 200 2.5 0.3905125 -1.785
6 2500 300 0.5 0.395543 -1.798
7 4000 100 2.5 0.5929815 -1.654
8 4000 200 0.5 1 -0.856
9 4000 300 1.5 0.302503 -2.325

62
4.4.3 Analysis of S/N ratio for Grey relational grade
Table 4.13: Response table of mean S/N ratio for Grey relational grade
Process
Factors parameters Mean S/N ratio Rank
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Max-Min
A Spindle speed -1.698 -1.985 -1.412 0.573 3
B Feed rate -1.795 -1.213 -1.652 0.582 2
C Depth of cut -2.354 -1.785 -1.456 1.141 1
Total mean S/N ratio= -1.705dB

Figure 4.7. Effect of process parameters on Grey relational grade

The S/N ratio performance characteristics of GRG are represented in Table4.10. The
effect of process parameters on GRG of CFRP composite laminates were observed in
response Table4.10.Minimized performance characteristics obtained at combined process
parameters is spindle speed at level-3, feed rate at level-2 and depth of cut at level-1 i.e.
A3B3C1 as shown in Figure 4.7.
4.4.4 ANOVA for Grey relational grade
ANOVA is used to know the optimal designed parameters which affect the Ra and F D.
Analysis was performed for level of significance of 5%. Depth of cut with a P-value less

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than 0.05, so it is significant at 95% confidence level and is shown iTable4.14.Consequently,
we confirmed that depth of cut is the most important parameter for Ra and F D followed by
feed rate and spindle speed.
Table4.14:ANOVA for grey relational grade
Source DF SS MS F P
Spindle speed 2 0.0091 0.0045 0.94 0.513
Feed rate 2 0.0119 0.0059 2.86 0.098
Depth of cut 2 0.0596 0.0298 12 0.005
Error 2 0.0098 0.0049
Total 8 0.0904
S=0.0452 R-sq=98.24% R-sq(adj)=90.21%

4.4.5 Confirmation test for Grey relational grade

Table 4.15: Results for the confirmation tests
Initial process parameter Optimal process parameters
Prediction Experiment
Level A1B1C1 A3B2C1 A3B2C1
Ra 1.41 1.26
FD 1.05 1.01
Grey relational
grade 0.505 -1.58 0.627
Improvement of Grey relational grade=0.10

After getting the optimal combined level of process parameters for output responses,
confirmation test is required to check the accuracy in analysis. Table 6.4shows the
comparison of experimental grey relational grade values of optimal process parameters with
predicted grey relational grade values of optimal process parameters. Finally, it is observed
that improvement of grey relational grade from combined initial process parameter to the
optimal process parametercombination is 0.10.

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4.5 Machined surface topography analysis
Machined surface characteristics of CFRP composites were systematically analyzed by
scanning electron microscopy. There is a need to examine the surface damages and
excellences in milling of CFRP composites.
4.5.1 Influence of process parameters on machined surface by SEM
analysis
Selection of machining process parameters is important to restrict the milled surface
damages and improves the milling quality. There is a need to correlate the experimental
results with surface topology of milling CFRP composites. SEM analysis is essential to know
the damage mechanisms and fibre, matrix behaviour in composite arrangement. Usually,
thrust force is increased with increasing of feed rate, consequently, chip thickness is increases
and higher values of surface roughness and delamination factor was found [29]. In this study,
beyond feed rate of 200mm/min surface integrity damage (failure initiation and flaw
propagation) was observed from Figures 5.1 a, b, and c. Depth of cut had considerable effect
on performance characteristics (surface roughness and delamination factor). In this
context,depth of cut is increased from 0.5 to 2.5 mm, obtained surface roughness and
delamination factor is increased from 1.26 µm to 2.36 µmand 1.01 to 1.12, wheremore forces
were profound may cause interplay separation and delamination can be seen in bottom ply.
Which may further fibre breakage occur by inter-laminar separation even tool is completely
engaged with workpiece at high depth of cuts. It is evident that deteriorates the surface
quality attains at higher depths of cuts was seen/observed in Figure5.1. a. Crack initiation of
fibre b Fibre-Matrix separation. C. Smear off epoxy and plough up of fibres. Nevertheless,
the material removal process become easy, the specific energy tends to decreases at the
instance of spindle speed is increasing from 1000rpm to 4000rpm. At higher spindle speeds
obtained lower surface roughness and delamination factor are 1.26 µm and 1.01
respectively.Figure 8 details/represents/reported acceptable topography, and surface
roughness/ better machining effects (smooth cutting of fibres)/forbidden damages were found
at a higher spindle speed is 4000rpm, lower depth of cut is 0.5mm and moderate feed rate is
200mm/min.

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 Figure 4.8(a):SEM picture showing surface damage (crack initiation of fibre) of CFRP
composite, when spindle speed is 2500rpm, feed rate is 200mm/min, and depth of cut is
2.5mm. Figure 4.8(b): SEM picture showing surface damage (Fibre-Matrix separation) of
CFRP composite, when spindle speed is 1000rpm, feed rate is 300mm/min, and depth of cut
is 2.5mm. Figure 48(c): SEM picture showing surface damage (Smear off epoxy and plough
up of fibres) of CFRP composite, when spindle speed is 1000rpm, feed rate is 300mm/min,
and depth of cut is 2.5mm.
Figure:4.8.SEM images of machined surface values.

Figure 4.9: SEM micrograph showing better surface quality (smooth cut of fibre) of
CFRP composite, when spindle speed is 4000rpm, feed rate is 200mm/min, and depth of cut
is 0.5mm

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5. Conclusion :
1. The spindle speed and the feed rate have no significant effect on the surface roughness and
delamination factor of CFRP composite laminates.
2. For optimization of typical multiple performance characteristics could be simplified and
improved by Grey-Taguchi method. From the response table it is established that largest
value for the GRG for the spindle speed is of 4000 rpm, feed rate of 200 mm/min, and depth
of cut of 0.5mm (A3B2C1).
3. Depth of cut has the most significant role for influencing the surface roughness and
delamination factor.
4. As seen in this study,when SEM analysis is correlated with experimental results, it was
found that a better surface quality could be obtained at a lower depth of cut is 0.5mm,
moderate feed rate is 200mm/min and at a higher spindle speed is 4000rpm.
5. From SEM illustration, more damage mechanism were found at higher a depth of cuts,
higher feed rates, and lower spindle speeds.
6. Future scope:
1. Investigation can be extended by varying the reinforcement loading by changing the fiber
volume fraction of reinforcement to establish the effect of reinforcement on milled surface
excellence.
2. In order to explore the effect of interactions on output responses more number of
experimental sequences is required which has to investigate further in depth.
3. Thoroughly investigation will be carried out by varieties of tool signatures.

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7. Reference
1. Mazumdar, S.K., Composites Manufacturing. 2001: CRC Press.
2. Mallick, P.K., Fibre-Reinforced Composites: Materials, Manufacturing and Design.
2007: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.
3. Sheikh-Ahmad, J.Y., Machining of Polymer Composites 2009: Springer.
4. Umer, R. The characterisation and application of natural fibre reinforcements for
Liquid Composite Moulding Processes. PhD, Deparment of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Auckland, 2008.
5. Bhat, P., J. Merotte, P. Simacek, and S.G. Advani, Process analysis of compression
resin transfer molding. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2009.
40(4): p. 431-441.
6. Govignon, Q., S. Bickerton, J. Morris, and P.A. Kelly, Full field monitoring of the resin
flow and laminate properties during the resin infusion process. Composites Part A:
Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2008. 39(9): p. 1412-1426.

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