An approach for development of damage-free drilling of carbon fiber reinforced thermosets

A new comprehensive approach to select cutting parameters for damage-free d rilling in carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite material is presented. T he approach is based on a combination of Taguchi's experimental analysis te chnique and a multi-objective optimization criterion. The optimization obje ctive includes the contributing effects of the drilling performance measure s: delamination, damage width, surface roughness, and drilling thrust force . A hybrid process model based on a database of experimental results togeth er with numerical methods for data interpolation are used to relate drillin g parameters to the drilling performance measures. Case studies are present ed to demonstrate the application of this method in the determination of op timum drilling conditions for damage-free drilling in EMS 8-256 composite l aminate. A process map based on the results is presented as a tool for dril ling process design and optimization for the investigated tool/material com bination. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.