| Summary: | The machining of lightweight composite materials is a challenging process in the field of materials and manufacturing. The composites have materials with distinct phases of hard fibre and soft matrix, inducing the cutting tool edge to face varying cutting pressure. In this paper, alumina based ceramic cutting tools in different combinations [(i) Al2O3 + Ti [C,N] and (ii) Al2O3 + SiCw] are used to machine a glass fibre rod at different process conditions. From the experimentation, the performance of the tool is observed to measure the flank wear at individual process conditions. The tool wear found to be rapid and failure occurred with increase in cutting velocity. On other hand, it was found that the tool life decreases with increase cutting velocity and the performance of cutting tools is similar in both cases. Wear morphology was found to be smooth and regular on machining fibre material. A modified Adam – Gene algorithm (AGA) was used with a constraint, to find the optimal machining process condition. It is found that the Al2O3 + Ti [C,N] cutting tool has a better tool life with minimal production cost for an optimal process condition of 250 m/min and 0.1 mm/rev. Economically, the Al2O3 + Ti [C,N] cutting tool has lower production cost, however, Al2O3 + SiCw cutting tool has better performance.
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