Analysis of delamination in drilling glass fiber reinforced polyester composites

Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite materials are finding increased application in aeronautical, automobile and structural applications. Drilling is a complex process, owing to their tendency to delaminate is used to join composite structures. In the present work, an attempt has been made to develop empirical relationships between the drilling parameters such as fiber orientation angle, tool feed rate, rotational speed and tool diameter with respect to delamination in drilling of GFR–polyester composites. The empirical relationship has been developed by using response surface methodology. The developed model can be effectively used to predict the delamination in drilling of GFRP composites within the factors and their limits are studied. The result indicated that the increase in feed rate and drill diameter increases the delamination size whereas there is no clear effect is observed for fiber orientation angle. The spindle speed shows only little effect on delamination in drilling of GFR–Polyester composites.

► Glass fiber reinforced polymer composites is fabricated and drilling performance is studied. ► The influence of cutting parameters on delamination in drilling of GFRP is presented in detail. ► Design of experiment strategy is used to analyze the effect of parameters. ► Mathematical relation is established for delamination in drilling of GFRP composites. ► The drilled hole quality is analyzed using photographs and scanning electron micrographs.