Modelling and optimisation of thrust force, torque and tool wear in drilling of coir fibre reinforced composites using response surface method

Drilling is a metal removal process and is important for the final fabrication stage prior to application. This paper discussed the influence of parameters on drilling characteristics of natural fibre reinforced composites (NFRC) by Box-Behnken design, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface methodology (RSM) techniques. The composites were fabricated and the experiments were conducted to study the effect of drill bit diameter, spindle speed and feed rate on thrust force, torque and tool wear using HSS twist drills. This paper presented a mathematical model for correlating the interactions of drilling parameters and the optimum values of responses by RSM. The mathematical models developed are generally used to predict the responses with a reasonable accuracy over a wide range of drilling conditions. The optimum value of tool wear is an important performance characteristic, affecting both metal removal rate and the hole accuracy. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.