Analysis of Thrust Force in Drilling Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Composites Using Fuzzy Logic

Glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite materials are finding increased application in many engineering fields. Machining of these materials cannot be avoided to get accuracy and precision fits. Among the various machining processes used, drilling is one of the most important processes and is mainly used in joining of composite structures. A major problem which encountered in drilling of GFRP composite laminate is damage or delamination. The damage due to thrust force is the important concern in drilling, and it leads to poor machinability. In the present work, prediction of thrust force in drilling of composite materials is carried out using fuzzy logic. Fuzzy rule-based model is developed to predict the thrust force in drilling of GFRP composites. The effectiveness of the fuzzy model was compared with the response surface model. Good agreement is observed between the predictive model values and experimental values. The analysis of machining parameters on drilling is carried out using Pareto analysis of variance (Pareto-ANOVA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA).