Optimization of Drilling Parameters of Carbon Fiber Composites using RSM-Based Utility Function

This paper deals with drilling of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite filled with carbon nanotube (CNT) using response surface method (RSM) based utility function. In the drilling of CFRP composites with a hybrid metal base, the additional advance force and pleat height reduce the performance of the composite. Therefore, to improve the performance of the hybrid metal matrix composite, the advancing force and the pleat height of the composite are minimized. Hence, the advancing force and pleat height are the factors considered in the present research and are the main responses that are minimized using the RSM-based utility function. Four important input factors such as drilling speed, feed rate, CNT percentage and drill helix angle are considered to analyze the performance of the drilling process. The results showed that the advance rate is a very influential parameter that affects the advance force and pleat height in hybrid metal matrix composites. During the drilling operation, due to the mutual rubbing of the CNT abrasive particles, it causes extensive surface damage such as holes, cracks, and fibers coming out. The ANOVA results show that the experimental data are well correlated at the 95% confidence interval, and this technique can be very useful and reliable for predicting drilling parameters of CFRP metal matrix composites.