Modeling for prediction of surface roughness in drilling MDF panels using response surface methodology

Abstract

Medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels are an industrial wood product which belongs to wood-based composite. MDF panels are made with wood fibers clued together with resin by heat and pressure. Nowadays the MDF products are preferred over solid wood in many applications due to certain comparative advantage and mainly used in furniture industry. This article discusses the use of Taguchi and response surface methodologies for predicting the surface roughness in drilling MDF material by a physical vapor deposition TiN coated carbide step drill bits. The experiments are conducted based on Taguchi’s experimental design technique. The drilling parameters used are spindle speed, feed rate, and drill diameter. The effect of drilling parameters on the surface roughness is evaluated and discussed in detail. The second order model has been established between the drilling parameters and the surface roughness using response surface methodology. The experimental result reveals that the most significant drilling parameter for the surface roughness is feed rate followed by the cutting speed. The predicted values and measured values are fairly close which indicates that the developed model can be effectively used to predict the surface roughness in the drilling of MDF panels. The predicted results are validated by using validation experiments.