Experimental Study on the Drilling Parameter Analysis of Banana Fiber Reinforced Vajram Mixed Phenolic Resin Composite Laminates

Drilling operation of fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) composites is significantly dissimilar from conventional drilling operation of metals; hence, identification of optimum drilling process parameters for FRP composites has become mandatory. In this work, drilling parameter optimization for banana fiber reinforced Vajram mixed phenolic resin composite has been carried out using Taguchi method. Three drilling input parameters such as point angle, spindle speed, and feed rate were optimized for two output responses, namely, thrust force and torque. Two composite samples were fabricated with 5% NaOH-treated banana fiber at 30% fiber volume ratio; sample 1 with 100% phenolic resin and sample 2 with 80% Vajram + 20% phenolic resin. Signal-to-noise ratios for all the output responses were calculated, and other statistical analysis were carried out. Highly contributing factor for sample 1 thrust force was point angle with 64.34% contribution and for torque was feed rate with 28.43% contribution. Highly contributing factor for sample 2 thrust force and torque was point angle with 60.47% and 41.37%, respectively. The residuals are fall on near straight line which ensures the normal distribution of errors; hence, no abnormality was noted on any analysis.