Effect of IR Radiation on Drilling of Natural Fiber Mesh-reinforced Hybrid Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Due to anisotropic performance of polymer matrix composites (PMC) drilling is a complex process in traditional drilling. Different type of fiber meshes and their resistance to infrared radiation (IR) on drilling operations are examined in this study. The natural and synthetic meshes are used to fabricate the composites, which are jute fiber mesh  composite (JTMC), glass fiber mesh mixed composite (GLMC), nylon fiber mesh mixed composite (NLMC), cotton fiber mesh mixed composite (CTMC), and gunnet fiber mesh mixed composite (GNMC).In order to reveal the addition of heat on the machining characteristics of different composites, the Infrared (IR) radiations  are used in the machining zone. The most important process parameters in the drilling process such as drilling speed in rpm, feed rate in mm/min and machining zone temperature in ^oC are considered for the experiment. Among the composites, GNMC shows the lowest delimitation Factor (DF) of 1.3 i.e 52.2 % which is less than JTMC for the parameter combination of 60 rpm, 12 mm/min and 40 ^oC. Also, the least surface roughness in Ra (SR) noted with the JTMC, which is 44.6 % lesser than GNMC at the same parameter combination. The infrared radiation heat affects the strands of fibers and its soft nature with the stiffness which contributes major role on surface roughness. The GLMC and CTMC are produces the next lesser DF when compared with the JTMC, which creates 4.95 and 5.68 DF, respectively. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) figure studies are carried out on the circumference of drilled workpiece to distinguish the effect of heating and fibers impact on drilling quality.