Investigations on the drilling process of unreinforced and reinforced polyamides using Taguchi method

The reinforced plastic materials have been widely used to manufacture several machine parts due to their lightweight and superior specific strength/modulus compared to the metallic materials. This paper investigates the use of Taguchi's method in order to identify the best drilling setup of glass reinforced polyamide. Experimental study on PA6 and PA66GF30 composites was conducted using three carbide drills (K20) with different geometries. The effect of tool geometry, spindle speed and feed rate factors on the thrust force, hole mean diameter and circularity error were analyzed. The results revealed the quality of the holes can be improved by proper selection of cutting parameters. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.