Title: Multiple performance characteristics optimisation in drilling of glass fibre reinforced polyester composite at different weightage of performance by Grey relational analysis

Authors: Sunil Hansda; Simul Banerjee

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata – 700032, West Bengal, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata – 700032, West Bengal, India

Abstract: The delamination is a major problem associated with the drilling of chopped glass fibre reinforced polyester composites. It reduces the structural integrity of the material, results in poor assembly tolerance and has the potential for long term performance deterioration. Surface roughness is also an important aspect of drilling fibre reinforced polyester composites. Poor surface finish can cause high stress on rivets and bolts, leading to failure. Optimisation of process parameters for multiple performance characteristics for this material is yet to be reported. In the present investigation, therefore, feed rate, material thickness and cutting velocity were chosen as drilling parameters. Delamination factor and average surface roughness were taken as the measure of performances. Experiments were conducted based on Taguchi L9 (34) orthogonal array design. Analysis was performed based on Grey-relational analysis. Relative contribution and optimal combination of different process parameters were determined at different weightage value of performances.

Keywords: glass fibre reinforced polyester composites; delamination; multiple performance characteristics; optimisation; grey relational analysis; GRA; fibre reinforced composites; surface roughness; surface quality; feed rate; material thickness; cutting speed; drilling parameters; orthogonal arrays.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2012.048554

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2012 Vol.12 No.1/2, pp.14 - 27

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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