Aramid Fibre Reinforced Plastic composites are difficult to be drilled due to anisotropic material properties. Currently, soft computing techniques are used as alternatives to conventional mathematical models, which is robust and can deal with inaccuracy and uncertainty. In this paper, drilling of Aramid Fibre Reinforced Plastics (AFRPs) was carried out using Taguchi L54 experimental layout. Drilling tool used in this experiment was solid carbide. The purpose of this study was to find optimum combination of drilling parameters to obtain minimum thrust and torque force to reduce the delamination. Also, this paper proposed a prediction model of Multilayer Perception Neural Network optimized by Genetic Algorithm (MLPNN-GA). Moreover, RSM technique was used to evaluate the influence of process parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, drill point angle and drill diameter on thrust force and torque. The prediction capability of both RSM and MLPNN-GA was compared with Response optimizer for thrust force and torque. The investigation demonstrated that drill point angle is the primary factor affecting thrust force and drill diameter influences the torque force on the drill bit. Overall, this study recommends the use of high speed and low feed combination and drill point angles of 90°–118° to reduce the delamination of the materials in the drilling of AFRP composites.

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This project investigates on salt bath nitriding process in order to improve the wear behavior of the material. This process increases the hardness of the material. The specimens were nitrided at 580°c on three different timing hours such as 60 minutes, 90 minutes & 120 minutes. A pin on disc machine is used to conduct wear test, so that wear loss can be determined. The specimens are to be magnified by metallographic test like scanning electron microscope. The untreated specimen is used to compare with the nitrided specimen. The best specimen is chosen which determines the life of material & improves the better wear resistance. The hardness of untreated material and nitrided material are compared. The material AISI stainless steel has many unique properties but it lacks wear resistance and hardness because of which it has limited applications. By conducting heat treatment operation, the hardness of the material does not improve, but by conducting case hardening process the hardness of the outer case will be high compared to base metal. If the hardness and wear resistance of the material improves the material can be used in wide range of applications.