Delamination Analyses of GFRP Composites under High Speed Conditions and Various Drill Geometries

Abstract

It is well understood that the fabrication process for glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite is a near net-shape process. Nevertheless, drilling is often performed in the final stage in product component manufacture. Drilling of GFRP composites usually produces delamination damage that deteriorates the long-term performance of the composite materials. Hence, this project aims to obtain desired drilling parameters for minimum delamination damage under high-speed conditions. Taguchi L27 orthogonal array has been employed for the experimentation and the controlled variables include spindle speed, feed rate, and drill bit. The results of Taguchi analyses showed that feed rate and drill geometry have major influence towards delamination damage.