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Implementing Machining of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites to Manufacturing Courses in 2 year and 4 year Programs

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites offer very high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. As a result, the aerospace industry is making a major effort to incorporate an increasing number of composite materials into various components and structures. However, machining of FRP composites is one of the most difficult and least understood areas in manufacturing technology. Thus, it is necessary to include machining and tool regimes of FRP composites into manufacturing curricula, especially at schools in regions of the country where significant aerospace industry exist. This new topic has been applied into various programs such as Machine Manufacturing Technology Program at Portland Community College (PCC) and Mechanical Engineering Program at Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV). This report focuses on all aspects of these newly developed course materials including course content and student feedback.

1. Introduction

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are a class of material that offer numerous advantages over monolithic metals and other homogeneous materials. Due to their greater strength-to-weight ratio, the composites are widely used in various structures and components. The aerospace industry is making a major effort to incorporate an increasing number of composite materials into various components and structures. For example, a recently developed commercial airplane will be 80% composites by volume [1]. Because the aerospace industry is a significant employer served regions of the country, there is a strong demand that education should cover net shape manufacturing of FRP composites in the curriculum, particularly in those regions.

Most manufacturing processes courses deal with metal machining only. Teaching the machining of only metallic materials doesn’t fulfill the needs of the current aerospace workforce. Because the FRP composites exhibit different machining characteristics than common metal alloys normally encountered in manufacturing. They respond differently to conventional machining processes and greatly reduce the useful life of standard cutting tools due to their abrasive nature. Figure 1 shows the chip formation differences between metal alloys and FRP composites. In the metal cutting process, a continuous plastic deformation occurs with a high strain rate under the compressive stress exerted by a wedge-shaped cutting tool. The workpiece material is formed into a chip by a shearing process in the primary shear zone. The chip slides up the rake face undergoing some secondary plastic flow due to the forces of friction. As shown in Figure 1 (b), the chip formations of FRP composites are totally different from those in metal cutting. Machining of FRP composites involves shearing and cracking of matrix material, brittle fracture across the fiber, fiber pull-out and fiber-matrix debonding (by tensile fracture), and delamination prior to final fracture both in the chip and below the cutting plane

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Kim, D., & Flaman, M. (2007, June), Implementing Machining Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites To Manufacturing Courses In 2 Year And 4 Year Programs Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1770