Investigation of Chip Formation and Workpiece Load When Machining Carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP)

Carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymers (CFRP) are increasingly used in aerospace industry due to their superior material properties in comparison to non-reinforced materials. In order to manufacture components made of CFRP, cutting processes are often required. These are challenging and different from metal cutting because of the heterogeneous structure (matrix and reinforcement) and the material properties of CFRP. In this paper, the chip formation and the workpiece load are investigated regarding the cutting condition used when orthogonal cutting CFRP with fiber orientations of 45° and 135°. The workpiece temperature significantly decreases using a smaller cutting speed or feed for cutting. The cutting speed is the most important cutting parameter for chip formation. At low cutting speeds (e.g. vc = 5 m/min), chips are formed. Concerning a cutting speed of vc = 100 m/min, the CFRP is removed by material fracture.