Investigation of the machinability properties of carbon fiber and carbon nanotube reinforced polyamide 6 polymer composite material

In this study, machinability properties of different ratios carbon fiber (CF) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) reinforced Polyamide 6 (PA6) polymer composite plates were investigated by drilling with using different cutting tool, cutting speed and feed rate parameters. Cf additive ratios to PA6 polymer by weight were 10% (PA6+10CF); 20% (PA6+20CF) and 30% (PA6+30CF); MWCNT additive ratios to PA6 by weight were 0,1% (PA6+0,1MWCNT); 0,2% (PA6+0,2MWCNT) and 0,3% (PA6+0,3MWCNT). In the study, HSS, carbide, coated carbide and PCD were chosen as the drill materials; the cutting parameters were chosen 40 m/min; 70 m/min; 100 m/min and 130 m/min, as cutting speed; 0,1 mm/rpm; 0,2 mm/rpm; 0,3 mm/rpm and 0,4 mm/rpm as feed rate. Taguchi method was used for experimental design. The experiments were done according to L16 orthogonal design. Drilling experiments were performed in dry conditions. The deformations on the input and output surfaces of the drilled samples were calculated using the image processing method and also the surface roughness of the hole inner surfaces were measured. According to the results, particle addition to PA6 polymer decreased the surface roughness. To achieve low surface roughness and low input-output deformations for both CF and MWCNT reinforced PA6 composites, high cutting speed and low feed rates were found to be ideal parameters.