Numerical optimization for cutting process in glass fiber reinforced plastic using conventional and non-conventional methods

ABSTRACT: Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites are used in many industrial applications due to the advantages they offer compared to other materials. These advantages are the light weight with the high strength, good toughness, high corrosion resistance, high thermal resistance and relative ease of manufacture of components using GFRPs, makes these materials candidates for more and more applications. Joining GFRP composite laminate to other metal material structure could not be avoided; the bolt joining efficiency depend critically on the quality of machined holes in all the industrial applications. There are many cutting processes which are used for producing riveted and bolted joints during the assembly operation of composite laminates with other parts. For riveted and bolted joints, precise holes must be made in the components to ensure high joint strength and precision. Conventional machining such as drilling and milling of hole making in composite materials face many challenges due to the properties of the matrix, diverse fiber , fiber orientation and the inhomogeneous nature of the composite. Non conventional machining like abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) & laser beam machining (LBM) processes have been used for processing composite materials because of the advantages they offered as compared to the traditional techniques. The objective of the current work is to evaluate the effect of drilling, milling, abrasive water jet and laser beam machining parameters on hole making process of GFRP. Statistical approach is used to know the effects of the predictor parameters on the response variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to isolate the effects of the predictor parameters affecting the hole making in both abrasive water jet and laser processes. The result shows that abrasive water jet cutting promises a better cutting, less cost of operation and high production compared to the other cutting technologies. Keywords: CO2 laser, AWJM, Cutting Parameters, Laminated GFRP, Cut quality, Cost, Productivity and Optimization. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………