Title: Analysis and modelling of cutting forces during the trimming of unidirectional CFRP composite laminates

Authors: Imed Zaghbani; Jean-Francois Chatelain; Sébastien Berube; Victor Songmene; Justin Lance

Addresses: Laboratoire d'ingénierie des produits, procédés et systèmes (LIPPS), École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montréal (Qc), Canada ' Laboratoire d'ingénierie des produits, procédés et systèmes (LIPPS), École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montréal (Qc), Canada ' Laboratoire d'ingénierie des produits, procédés et systèmes (LIPPS), École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montréal (Qc), Canada ' Laboratoire d'ingénierie des produits, procédés et systèmes (LIPPS), École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montréal (Qc), Canada ' Laboratoire d'ingénierie des produits, procédés et systèmes (LIPPS), École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montréal (Qc), Canada

Abstract: CFRPs are increasingly employed in the aircraft industry thanks to their high strength and high rigidity both properties that make them difficult-to-machine materials. Cutting parameters must therefore be selected with care; otherwise, damaged parts will ensue. The present study investigates the instantaneous cutting forces at play when trimming CFRP laminates. An experimental setup is proposed for changing the cutting parameters during trimming operations. The instantaneous cutting forces were recorded at high sampling frequencies, and then analysed and modelled. From the investigation, it was found that for the machined laminates, the fibre orientation does not significantly influence the profile of the tangential and radial forces; however, it influences their amplitude. To confirm that, machining tests were performed on aluminium alloy sheets. These tests allowed a comparison of the behaviour of an isotropic material with that of an orthotropic material. The comparison allowed the localisation of non-linearity sources. Employing these observations, it was demonstrated that the average thrust and feed forces vary non-linearly with the feed. Thus, a third-degree polynomial model was introduced to describe this variation. This mathematical description allowed a high-order mechanistic model to be built, simulating the instantaneous cutting forces for different feeds, speeds and fibre orientations.

Keywords: laminate trimming; instantaneous cutting forces; carbon fibre reinforced polymers; CFRP composites; composite materials; composite laminates; aircraft industry; fibre orientation; aluminium alloys; feed rate; cutting speed.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2012.050433

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2012 Vol.12 No.4, pp.337 - 357

Received: 25 Mar 2011
Accepted: 18 Jul 2011
Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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