Investigation of surface roughness and material removal rate for UD-GFRP composite using Taguchi grey relational analysis

Abstract

In this paper, a grey relational method was used for minimising surface roughness and  maximising material removal rate during turning of unidirectional glass fibre reinforced plastic composite (UD-GFRP). Taguchi approach was used for the experiment. The parameters studied were tool rake angle, speed, depth of cut, feed, tool nose radius, and cutting environment. Castrol water (1:6) miscible soluble coolant was flooded in the machining zone. Cutting environment: Wet (33°-38°c) and Cold (5°-7°c) were used. The Taguchi L18 orthogonal array was used for performing the experiment. Significant parameters were found by applying ANOVA. The grey relational analysis was used to optimise the parameters affecting the response. Cutting speed was the factor, followed by feed rate that influenced surface roughness and material removal rate. The surface roughness of 1.761 µm and material removal rate of 275.78 mm3 were achieved.