Optimization of Process Parameters in Drilling of Short Fiber (KENAF) Composite

The availability of natural fibers and ease of manufacturing have made the researches to replace the expensive and non-renewable synthetic fiber. Natural fibers like kenaf, oil palm, vegetable, bamboo, jute, yepi, sisal, coconut and pineapple leaf , banana and coir has been used, till now as a reinforcement in thermoplastic composite for applications in consumer goods, transportation, aerospace automobile, furniture, low cost housing and civil structures etc. This is due to better mechanical properties like high strength to weight ratio, high stiffness etc. Among all the machining operation, drilling is one of the important machining processes to produce the holes. This paper optimizes the process parameters namely cutting speed, feed, point angle and chisel edge width in drilling of natural fiber composites. Experiments were carried out as per the Taguchi experimental design and an L18 orthogonal array was used to study the influence of various combinations of process parameters in drilling. The results indicate that on Trust force, chisel edge width has more influence followed by point angle, speed and feed and on Torque, speed has more effect followed by feed, point angle and chisel width.