Composite material consumption is booming and is expected to increase exponentially in many industrial applications such as aerospace, automotive, marine and defense. However, in most cases, composite products require further processing before they can be used or assembled. Machining of composite materials is extremely difficult due to their anisotropic and non-homogeneous structure. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature on composite materials and their machining processes, such as turning, milling and drilling. Damage related to these processes is also discussed. The paper is divided into seven main parts; the first, second and third parts give a brief overview of composite materials, reinforcements used in composite materials and composite manufacturing methods, respectively. The fourth part deals with post-processing machining operations, while the fifth, sixth and seventh parts are devoted to the machining of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite, glass fiber reinforced polymer and natural fiber reinforced polymer composites, respectively. An analysis of the factors that influence the machining and the machinability criteria used for these materials is also presented, with particular emphasis on cutting forces, tool wear, delamination and surface finish. Non-traditional manufacturing methods are not discussed in this paper.
Studying the drilling of a hybrid jute/palm composite material offers significant contributions to sustainable material development. Incorporating renewable jute and palm fibers represents an innovative, eco-friendly approach compared to synthetic composites. This research aims to optimize drilling parameters to reduce defects and evaluate the performance of different drilling tools, crucial for industrial applications. Drilling is performed via three different types of drills bit: High-Speed Steel, HSS-Co5 coated high-speed steel with 5% cobalt, and carbide. The drilling process involves adjusting the feed and rotational speed. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to select drilling settings by validating experimentally obtained data and predicting the behavior of the structure based on cutting circumstances. The findings indicated that the most effective cutting parameters for minimizing delamination are achieved using the HSS drill bit, namely at lower feed and rotational speeds. Delamination remains below the threshold of 1.106 when the feed is 0.04 mm/rev and the rotational speed is 1592 rpm. The analysis of the results obtained using the response surface methodology indicates that the R2 coefficient for cylindricity is 0.96%. In contrast, the rate of delamination is 0.79% and the rate of circularity is 0.89%.
11 April 2014 in International Journal of Material Forming