Drilling-Induced Damages in Hybrid Carbon and Glass Fiber-Reinforced Composite Laminate and Optimized Drilling Parameters

Hybrid carbon and glass fiber-reinforced composites have attracted significant research interest for primary load-bearing structural components in the field of aviation manufacturing owing to their low weight and high strength to weight ratio. However, the anisotropic and heterogenic nature of carbon and/or glass fiber-reinforced composite prevents high machining quality due to the directionality effect of fibers in the polymer matrix. As such, this study investigates the effect of drilling process for hybrid fiber-reinforced composite and reports optimal drilling parameters to improve the drill quality. Experimental studies indicate that an increased point angle (i.e., from 80° to 120°) resulted in low delamination upon entry due to reduced thrust force, which in turn produces better surface finish with minimal tool wear. The optimal feed rate (0.2 mm/min) ensures lower delamination at entry, since higher feed rates can increase the thrust force due to elevation in the shear area or raise the self-generated feed angle, which in turn reduces the effective clearance angle. To this end, drilling parameters were optimized using Dandelion optimizer (DO)—a cutting-edge metaheuristic search algorithm (MSA). We report the excellent consistency of DO to solve the proposed drilling optimization problem while achieving promising results as ascertained by the small standard deviation values.