Experimental Investigation and Optimization of Cutting Force in CNC

Turning of Woven Fabric based GFRP/Epoxy Composites using PCD

Cutting Tool
Naresh Deshpande1, Hari Vasudevan2, Ramesh Rajguru3
1
Faculty, Department of Production Engineering, D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
3
Faculty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
1
ncdeshpande72@yahoo.co.in
3
ramesh.rajguru9@gmail.com
2
Principal D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
2
harivasudevan@iitb.ac.in

ABSTRACT:
Despite the importance of the woven fabric based glass fiber reinforced composites in many industrial
applications, very little is known about machinability of these composites. This paper presents an
investigation into the longitudinal turning of woven fabric and epoxy based GFRP composites using
polycrystalline diamond tool in order to analyze the effect of the cutting parameters and insert radius on the
cutting force. The force was measured through longitudinal turning, according to the experimental plan
developed based on Taguchi methodology. The signal to noise ratio and analysis of variance were applied
to the experimental data in order to determine the effect of the process variables on cutting force.

Keywords — CNC Turning, Epoxy, Woven fabric, Hand lay-up, Taguchi methodology, Polycrystalline
diamond tool, ANOVA.

1.INTRODUCTION:
In the last 10 years, machining of polymer matrix composites has been developed as an
alternative to the processes of injection molding, extrusion, or sintering. Also many
components made from primary melt processes require additional machining to meet the
requirements of assembly and accurate dimensional tolerances.
Machining of Fiber reinforced composites differs from that of metal alloys, due to their
anisotropy, low thermal conductivity, and difference between coefficient of linear
expansion of the matrix and the fiber. The quality of the machined surface depends upon
the type of fiber and matrix materials used, type of weave of the fabric etc. Some of the
typical problems faced during machining of FRPs are fibers pull out, matrix debonding,
burning, short tool life, powder type chips, high cutting forces and poor surface finish.
Cutting forces have direct effect on power consumption and tool wear. They are
oscillating and periodic in nature. The oscillations are generated due to repeated running
of cutting tool into fibers and matrix phases. This results in strong variations of cutting
forces magnitudes. In order to achieve good machinability, it is desirable to have
minimum values of cutting force. Since machining involves large number of process
variables, the optimization of cutting force is time consuming and costly. Instead of one
factor at a time experimental approach, the machining data is analyzed using Taguchi
DOE and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Catalin Fetecau and Felicia Stan [1] studied the effect of cutting parameters on cutting
force and surface roughness of polytetrafluoroethylene composites using polycrystalline
diamond tool. Cutting force and surface roughness were measured through longitudinal
turning, according to the experimental plan developed based on the taguchi methodology.
The signal-to-noise ratio and the analysis of variance were applied to the experimental
data. They found out that, the cutting force is significantly influenced by the feed rate,
depth of cut and the interaction of feed rate and depth of cut, while cutting speed and
insert radius have a small influence. The cutting force increases with the increase of feed
rate and depth of cut respectively.
Anish kumar S., Bharaneeswaran P. and Annamalai R. [2] investigated the use of PCD
and K-20 carbide insert for turning of GFRP composites. Various parameters were
measured such as surface finish and power as consumed by main spindle and values were
compared for both types of tools. They found that machining with PCD gives good
surface finish at higher cutting speeds while machining with K-20 gave good surface
finish at lower cutting speeds.
Surendra Kumar, Meenu, P.S. Satsangi & H. K. Sardana [3] conducted a study in
machining of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic composite to investigate the
effect of tool nose radius, rake angle, feed rate, cutting speed, depth of cut and cutting
environment on the surface roughness produced. The results of this study revealed that
the most significant machining parameters for surface roughness is feed rate followed by
cutting speed. The cutting environment does not influence the surface roughness.
Concerning with the form of reinforcement, woven fabric based composites are
currently replacing more traditional structural materials. They have certain advantages
like, better drape for complex shapes, can be laid up without resin, plies stay in line better
during cure, cured parts are easier to machine, better impact resistance and availability in
many forms [4].
The literature survey reveals that PCD cutting tool is more appropriate for cutting hard
material like GFRP. The most common processes used for producing the cylindrical bars
were filament winding and pultrusion. Despite the wide applications of reinforced Epoxy
resin in electrical components, aerospace, automotive structural applications, mining &
chemical process industries, high performance marine applications and sporting goods,
very little is known about its machining aspects. Thus, in this paper, the effect of cutting
parameters and insert radius on the main cutting force in the turning of Epoxy and woven
fabric based GFRP composites manufactured by hand lay-up process is investigated.

3. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS:

3.1 Work Material

The work material selected for the study is Glass fibre reinforced Epoxy composite. The
E-glass reinforcement is of woven fabric form having following specifications. Type of
weave: plain, weight: 180±5 gm/m2 and 0.18mm thickness, manufactured using Hybon
multi-end roving. Epoxy resin manufactured by Huntsman; product Araldite LY3297;
hardener Aradur 3298, is used as polymer matrix material. The work specimens are
tubular in shape 50 mm long, with inner diameter of 20 mm and outer diameter of 55 mm.
They are manufactured using hand lay-up process and cured at room temperature. The
volume fraction of the reinforcement is 70%.

Fig. 1 The machined work specimens

3.2 Cutting Tool

The cutting tool selected for machining GFRP composites is Poly Crystalline Diamond
(PCD) insert of the fine grade. Three different types of inserts are used. They have ISO
coding CNMA 120404, CNMA 120408, and CNMA 120412.They are produced by
Varun Tools Pvt. Ltd. The tool holder is of WIDEX-ID1G with ISO coding PCLNL
25X25 M12.

3.3 Experimental set-up and plan

The experiments were conducted on a Ace Jobber XL CNC lathe machine with the
following specifications: swing over bed 500 mm, swing over carriage 260 mm, max.
turning dia. 270 mm, max. turning length 400 mm, max. spindle speed 4000 rpm, spindle
motor power 7.5 KW and Fanuc series Oi-TD Mate CNC controller. The machining tests
were carried out without any coolant. The tangential cutting force was measured with
Kistler Piezo electric dynamometer of type-5233A with built in, charge amplifier up to 10
KN. Data acquisition was accomplished by connecting this dynamometer to computer and
using Kistler Dynoware type- 2825A software.
The experiments for this work were planned using Taguchi’s design of experiments
(DOE). Taguchi’s approach to parameter design provides the design engineer with a
systematic and efficient method for determining near optimum design parameters for
performance and cost. This method can reduce the number of experiments required to
collect necessary data. Four control factors which could probably affect the cutting force
were selected for the study, viz. insert nose radius, cutting speed, feed and depth of cut.
Each factor was studied at three levels. The most appropriate orthogonal array in this
case is L27 OA. The factors are assigned to column no. 1, 2, 5 and 8 respectively. The
unassigned columns will be treated as error. The output response used to measure
machinability is the tangential cutting force. Each trial was repeated once. Also the trials
were carried out in random order. The work piece was mounted on specially designed
mandrel, which was subsequently clamped by the lathe chuck. The analysis was made
using popular software, specially used for design of experiment applications, known as
MINITAB 16.
TABLE I
Control factors and their levels

Process Levels
parameters Process parameters Units
designation Level.1. Level.2. Level.3.

A Tool nose radius mm 0.4 0.8 1.2

B Cutting speed m/min 120 160 200
C Feed rate mm/rev 0.05 0.15 0.25

D Depth of cut mm 0.6 1 1.6

TABLE II
Experimental plan L27 OA, main cutting force and S/N ratio

Exp. R1 R2 S/n(dB)
run A B C D Mean Fz
Fz(N) Fz(N) Force
1 1 1 1 1 10.65 7.84 9.245 -19.4173
2 1 1 2 2 44.43 32.04 38.235 -31.7618
3 1 1 3 3 89.9 71.47 80.685 -38.1921
4 1 2 1 2 13.73 11.2 12.465 -21.9583
5 1 2 2 3 55.6 52.43 54.015 -34.6540
6 1 2 3 1 29.69 26.64 28.165 -29.0069
7 1 3 1 3 17.94 15.47 16.705 -24.4806
8 1 3 2 1 19.93 15.53 17.730 -25.0405
9 1 3 3 2 46.84 50.96 48.900 -33.7939
10 2 1 1 1 7.84 7.02 7.430 -17.4330
11 2 1 2 2 31.13 29.3 30.215 -29.6084
12 2 1 3 3 81.12 67.69 74.405 -37.4673
13 2 2 1 2 12.6 12.36 12.480 -21.9247
14 2 2 2 3 48.83 46.63 47.730 -33.5781
15 2 2 3 1 22.22 26.67 24.445 -27.7996
16 2 3 1 3 18.07 16.72 17.395 -24.8150
17 2 3 2 1 18.4 16.45 17.425 -24.8370
18 2 3 3 2 39.89 45.84 42.865 -32.6629
19 3 1 1 1 9.49 11.66 10.575 -20.5311
20 3 1 2 2 28.69 24.05 26.370 -28.4557
21 3 1 3 3 67.78 69.09 68.435 -36.7060
22 3 2 1 2 14.92 15.44 15.180 -23.6267
23 3 2 2 3 54.87 44.71 49.790 -33.9878
24 3 2 3 1 27.68 14.47 21.075 -26.8823
25 3 3 1 3 20.26 16.85 18.555 -25.4057
26 3 3 2 1 18.89 24.26 21.575 -26.7458
27 3 3 3 2 43.95 42.51 43.230 -32.7169
 TABLE III TABLE IV
Response table for cutting force (mean) at Response table for cutting force (S/N ratio) at
different factor levels different factor levels

Level A B C D Level A B C D

1 34.02 38.4 13.34 17.63 1 -28.7 -28.84 -22.18 -24.22

2 Response
30.46 table for cutting
29.57 33.65 force
29.99 Response
2 table for
-27.79 cutting force
-28.18 -29.85(S/N ratio)
-28.5
(S/N ratio) at different factor levels at different factor levels
3 30.65 27.15 48.14 47.5 3 -28.37 -27.83 -32.83 -32.14

Delta 3.55 11.24 34.8 29.87 Delta 0.91 1.01 10.66 7.92

Rank 4 3 1 2 Rank 4 3 1 2

Fig.2. Main effect plot of means for cutting force Fig.3. Main effect plot of S/N ratios for cutting force

TABLE V
ANOVA (means) for cutting force

Source SS DOF MS F ratio SS’ P(%)

Tool nose radius (A) 150.1073 2 75.0536 1.5246 51.6553 0.227

Cutting speed (B) 1256.6195 2 628.309 12.7637 1158.1675 5.094

Feed rate (C) 11006.6849 2 5503.342 111.7974 10908.2329 47.985

Depth of cut (D) 8103.8123 2 4051.906 82.3123 8005.3603 35.2156

Error 2215.1823 45 49.226 608.9903 11.4769

Total 22723.4063 53

R2= 90.255%
 TABLE VI
ANOVA (S/N ratios) for cutting force

Source SS DOF MS F ratio SS’ P(%)

Tool nose radius (A) 3.85 2 1.92 1.57 1.41 0.1644

Cutting speed (B) 4.71 2 2.36 1.93 2.27 0.2647

Feed rate (C) 543.97 2 271.98 222.57 541.53 63.1602

Depth of cut (D) 282.86 2 141.43 115.74 280.42 32.7062

Error 22 18 1.22 31.76 3.7042

Total 857.39 26

R2= 97.43%

4.Results and Conclusions

Within the range of cutting parameters used in this study, the following conclusions are
arrived at.
(1)Statistical results indicate that the cutting force is significantly influenced (at a
95% confidence level) by feed rate, followed by depth of cut, while cutting speed and
insert radius have a small influence. The cutting force increases with the increase of
feed rate and depth of cut, respectively.

(2)Based on the analysis of the S/N ratio, the optimal cutting force is achieved when
the nose radius and cutting speed are set to their high level (level 3) of the
experimental range, and the feed rate & depth of cut are set at their low level (level 1)
of the experimental range.

REFERENCES
[1]Catalin Fetecau, and Felicia Stan, “Study of cutting force and surface roughness in the turning of
polytetrafluoroethylene composites with a polycrystalline diamond tool”, Measurement, vol. 45, pp.
1367-1379, March 2012.
[2]Anish Kumar S., Bharaneeswaran P., and Annamalai R., “Experimental investigation of K20 carbide and PCD
insert on Machining GFRP Composite”, Proc. ICIII, 2012, IPCSIT, vol31, pp. 149-155.
[3]Surinder Kumar, Meenu, P.S. Satsangi, and H.K. Sardana, “Optimization of surface roughness in turning
unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastics (UD-GFRP) composites using polycrystalline diamond
(PCD) cutting tool”, Indian Journal of Engineering & Material Sciences, vol. 19, pp. 163-174, June
2012.
[4]Naresh Deshpande, Hari Vasudevan, and Ramesh Rajguru, “Recent Trends and Developments in the use
of Woven Fabric Reinforcements for Composite Materials”, Proc.ICIAME-2013, pp. 17-24.