Investigations on Edge Trimming of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer CFRP Composites

Abstract

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite materialshave been replacing the conventional materials such as steel, cast iron andaluminium alloys due to their specific properties such as high specificstrength and specific modulus. CFRP materials have proven to be adaptableengineering materials in many applications including aerospace, automotive,construction, marine and sports. The increasing applications of CFRP parts newlinehave raised the need for large scale manufacturing and production of goodquality of parts in terms of both surface integrity and dimensional accuracy.Surface finish and accuracy of the surface profile are two importantmachining characteristics which play a significant role in achieving overallproduct quality. The quality of the product is often directly related to thefunctional performance of the product.Though composite parts are often made to near net shapes, somepost-machining operations such as drilling and trimming after demoulding areinevitable. These operations must be performed to ensure that the compositeparts meet dimensional tolerance, surface quality, and other functional newlinerequirements. The machining of CFRPs faces a lot of challenges due to itsinhomogeneous and anisotropic material properties. newline newline