Surface roughness and cutting force in turning of alkaline-treated banana fibre-reinforced polymer composite: Compressed air cutting

Abstract

Banana fibre-reinforced polymer (BaFRP) composite can ensure environmentally friendly decomposition of waste material and reduction of cost in comparison with traditionally used fibre material. This article emphasizes the influence of various machining constraints on surface roughness (R_a) and cutting force (P_z) in turning alkaline-treated banana fibre-reinforced polymer (T-BaFRP) composite. 30% weight fraction yields satisfactory mechanical properties. Taguchi orthogonal array L25 is used to design experiments and optimization using DFA and TOPSIS. An experimental investigation was conducted under compressed cooling air-cutting conditions where pressure was kept at 8 bar. Analysis of variance depicts that depth of cut and feed rate are the most prominent factors for surface roughness and cutting force. The predicted and experimental values error is 0.517% for surface roughness and 1.181% for cutting force. The optimization using DFA and TOPSIS reported optimal depth of cut, cutting speed, and feed rate at 0.362 mm, 55 m/min, and 0.113 mm/rev, and at 0.8 mm, 154 m/min, and 0.12 mm/rev, respectively. R_a of 2.594 µm and P_z of 14.258 N by DFA and 3.02 µm and 25.83 N by TOPSIS method have been attained. Moreover, confirmation test suggests that both response parameters (surface roughness and cutting force) are in close alignment with the results from the DFA and TOPSIS.