Design and optimization of unit production cost for AWJ process on machining hybrid natural fibre composite material

• Main Authors: S.P. Jani, A. Senthil Kumar, M. Adam Khan, A. Sujin Jose
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2021-12-01
• Series: International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture
• Subjects: Composite; Filler; Machining; Parameters; Optimization; GA
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2588840421000354

It is very difficult to handle composite material using cutting edge process. The surface defects, fibre – matrix delamination, fibre pullouts and bulk material removal are some of the common effects while machining composite material. To reduce such machining effects, an advanced machining processes are suggested for difficult to cut composite materials. In this research, a hybrid natural fibre composite material is developed inhouse to study the performance of machinability through abrasive water jet cutting process. The natural composite material is developed with two filler materials such as palm and coconut shell powder. During machining the water jet pressure, nozzle traverse speed and standoff distance are varied to predict the optimal process condition. Further the unit production cost for two different combination of material is optimized using a natural evolutionary based genetic algorithm. It was found that the unit production cost for 10 wt% filler reinforce natural fibre composite yields maximum production cost compared to 7.5 wt% filler material reinforcement for nearby machining process parameters. The variation in production cost is due to the influence of mechanical cum metallurgical quality, distribution and densification of filler material reinforced. The level of experiments is also validated using regression analysis.