Determination of milling performance of jute and flax fiber reinforced composites

The usage area of natural fiber reinforced composite materials has been increasing day by day due to their attaining to not only ecological benefits but also high mechanical properties with their low weight. After the production of natural fiber reinforced composites, they need to be subjected to secondary processes such as milling, drilling and turning processes according to their field of use. In this study, it was aimed to determine milling performance of Jute Fiber Reinforced Plastic (JFRP) and Flax Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FFRP) composites, which are obtained from natural fibers. High speed steel (HSS), TiN coated HSS and cemented carbide (WC) end mills were used as cutting tools for milling experiments. Experiments were carried out at the spindle speeds of 2500, 5000 and 7500 rpm, and the feed rates of 0.01, 0.015 and 0.02 mm/rev. The effects of spindle speed, feed rate, cutting tool and composite material types on cutting force, vibration, delamination factor, and surface roughness were investigated. As a result of the experiments, it was seen that vibration and delamination factor increased, and cutting force and surface roughness values decreased with increasing spindle speed. It was observed that cutting force, vibration, delamination factor and surface roughness values increased with increasing feed rate. The most appropriate values for cutting force, delamination factor and surface roughness values were obtained in experiments where WC end mill was used. This was followed by TiN coated HSS and HSS end mills, respectively. In vibration values, the lowest values were obtained from HSS end mill, and the highest values were obtained from WC end mill. Delamination factors and surface roughness values in FFRP composites were calculated higher than those of JFRP composites. However, the cutting forces obtained in milling FFRP composites were lower than those of JFRP composites. Vibration values in JFRP and FFRP composites were measured to be very close to each other.