Study of surface finish of fiber-reinforced composite molds

Abstract

One of the primary processes for the production of composite parts is the liquid composite molding process. This process is based on the injection of resin into a mold, which is usually metallic. Today, studies are being undertaken to produce these molds using Hextool ä , a carbon fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastic. The molds, constructed by draping prepregs, must be finished by free-form machining to ensure the dimensional and surface quality requirements. An arithmetic roughness of 0.8 mm is required, and this quality is not attained by milling operations. Thus, a manual polishing operation is necessary. However, to minimize the time taken by this manual operation, it is necessary to verify the roughness obtained by milling. Thus, the work presented in this article consists first of a study of the capability of milling to produce molds from Hextool with given surface quality requirements. The conclusion of this study is to define values of radial depth of cut to attain a surface quality with minimum machining time. Second, this work highlights how to replace the manual polishing operation by a machining operation with an abrasive diamond tool. Thus, the capability of an abrasive diamond tool to machine a mold with high surface requirements is discussed.

Fiber-reinforced composites in milling and grinding: machining bottlenecks and advanced strategies

“…In fact, grinding is also intermittent cutting microscopically, because of the random distribution of grains [20,21]. However, the scale of intermittent cutting varies [22]. Therefore, the defects produced by these two machining methods also have uniqueness and commonalities.…”

Tool wear and resulting surface finish during micro slot milling of polycarbonates using uncoated and coated carbide tools

“…Majority of the research studies have focused on investigating the drilling performance of CFRPs, [33][34][35][36] while few studies have focused on milling machinability of CFRPs. 37,38 Although there have been several studies on the SPDT and grinding of polycarbonates, the focused application area was optical lenses. There have been very few studies focusing on another promising application of polycarbonate, which is in microfluidics.…”

“…Majority of the research studies have focused on investigating the drilling performance of CFRPs, 33–36 while few studies have focused on milling machinability of CFRPs. 37,38…”