CHARACTERISTICS OF TRIMMING CFRP WITH END MILLS

CFRP (carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic) is widely used in industries be cause of its superior specific strength. However, the users of this co mposite material have faced difficulty in machining it.The major probl ems in cutting CFRP are its inferior surface quality and the short lif e of the tools used to cut it. In this paper, the trimming of CFRP wit h an end mill was carried out to determine suitable cutting conditions . The major results obtained are as follows. (1) The most suitable too l material for cutting CFRP is K10 in carbide tools. (2) In cutting of hybrid CFRP, tool life is shortened markedly by increased local wear of the cutting tool. In this case, moving the end mill vertically to c ut CFRP has some effect on improving tool life. (3) The quality of the machined CFRP surface depends mainly on the angle of engagement of to ol to fiber direction.