Environmental, mechanical and materialistic effects on delamination damage of glass fiber composites: Analysis and optimization

Machining process of glass fiber composites usually induces delamination damage. The presence of delamination may cause changes in the mechanical characteristics of the composite structures. In this research, a comprehensive experimental study is performed to analyze the influence of different parameters such as thermal fatigue, lay-up arrangement, resin type, feed rate and cutting velocity on the delamination of glass fiber composites under different drilling processes. Besides, influence of ultrasonic vibration exerting on the tool as a new and high-tech process is investigated. To follow this aim, different composite specimens with various resin types and lay-up arrangements are fabricated and a thermal fatigue condition is provided. Additionally, the Taguchi method is employed to obtain the optimized damage reduction condition in terms of mentioned parameters. The results indicated that thermal fatigue and unsymmetrical lay-up arrangement result in more delamination damage. It was also established that the influence of mentioned parameters is more considerable in higher cutting velocities. Moreover, ultrasonic vibration application is suggested to have the least delamination damage.