A Comprehensive Study of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Drilling

Machining is one of the most common subtraction manufacturing process, wherein the final shape of the product is obtained by removing of excess material from the work part. The rising demand for high performance structural material necessitated the development of composite materials and like any other engineering material, to be a part of final assembly, the composites are also required to undergo the machining processes. The most common machining operation is the mechanism of making hole, known as drilling. The drilling of fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) distinctively differs from that of the drilling mechanism in conventional metals, due to the prior's inhomogeneous nature. The machining quality for drilling composites is quantified through surface roughness (surface morphological issue) and the delamination (surface integrity issue). The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the effect of various parameters viz. drill tool material and drill process parameters on the said machining quality factors, whilst drilling of glass fibre reinforced polymer matrix composites.