OPTIMIZATION OF MATERIAL REMOVAL RATE IN DRILLING CARBON NANOTUBE EPOXY COMPOSITE SPECIMEN BY TAGUCHI METHOD

Abstract

This project introduces the application of Taguchi optimization methodology in optimizing the drilling parameters for machining pristine and functionalized multi walled carbon nanotube epoxy composite material to obtain maximum material removal rate. The drilling parameters which are chosen to be evaluated in this study are the diameter of dill bit, cutting speed and feed rate. While, the response factor to be measured is the material removal rate of the composite material. An orthogonal array was set up and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio was employed to find the optimal levels of drilling parameters for achieving maximum material removal rate (MRR). MINITAB 18 software was used to find out signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and mean. The combination of optimal drilling parameters for both pristine and functionalized multi walled carbon nanotube epoxy composite has been obtained at speed 440 rpm, feed 0.03 mm/rev and drill bit diameter 12 mm. In this study, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that speed is the dominant parameter followed by feed and diameter of drill bit for pristine multi walled carbon nanotube epoxy composite while feed is the dominant factor followed by diameter of drill bit and speed for functionalized multi walled carbon nanotube epoxy composite. Keywords: carbon nanotubes, dispersion, functionalization, drilling, Taguchi.