Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Composites are widely used in all the fields because of its favorable properties over conventional materials. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is an extensively used wood composite in furniture industries. Drilling is the most commonly used machining process in the assembly. The surface quality of the hole depends upon the cutting conditions. The drilling damages like delamination reduces the structural reliability of the laminates and also affects the assembly of parts, appearance and the performance of the final product. The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of cutting parameters in a systematic approach on delamination in drilling of prelaminated MDF wood panels with High Speed Steel (HSS) twist drills of different diameters. The drilling experiments were planned and performed using Taguchi design. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based mathematical model is developed to predict the influence of process parameters. The adequacy of the model is checked using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the most dominant factor which influences the delamination is feed rate followed by the drill diameter. Keywords: Wood Composite Panels, Drilling, Delamination, Taguchi Design, Response Surface Methodology (RSM).