Surface damage reduction of dry milling carbon fiber reinforced plastic/polymer using left–right edge milling tool

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic/polymer is popular for aerospace structures and these structures require milling with desired configuration and integrity within strict damage tolerance. However, due to the influence of cutting thrust force on the surface materials when milling carbon fiber reinforced plastic/polymer, it is easy to cause surface damages. This article aimed to study the effect of cutting thrust force direction and size on the damages and guided the suitable milling tool and cutting parameters, further to propose a milling method with low damages. The two-dimensional cutting model was established successfully for analyzing the tool–composite contact and the fiber–plastic/polymer interface crack. Based on the model, the cutting direction forward inside and small cutting force are the ways to avoiding the burrs and tears. The thrust force was the main concentrated force causing the damages in milling, so the left–right edge milling tool was proposed to realize cutting fibers to inside for both surfaces. Besides, small feed per tooth is an effective way to reduce the force. Therefore, the left–right edge milling tool with small feed per tooth is low-damages method. Comparative milling experiments are carried out to verify the method, from the result, the burrs, tears and delamination are effectively inhibited.