Investigating the effect of machining processes on the mechanical behaviour of composite plates with circular holes
Résumé
The influence of the machining quality on the mechanical behavior of CFRP composites is yet not fully understood. There are only few works in the literature that have investigated the effect of the machining quality on CFRP. In fact, most of these works focus only on conventional machining such as axial or orbital drilling. The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of two machining processes namely conventional machining (CM) and abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) on the mechanical behavior of composite plates under cyclic loading. For this purpose, an experimental study using several composite plates drilled with a cutting tool and an abrasive water jet machining was carried out. In order to study the impact of the process of machining on the mechanical behavior, thermographic infrared testing and fatigue cyclic tests were performed to assess temperature evolutions, stiffness degradation, and the damage evolution in these plates. Fatigue testing results have shown that the damage accumulation in specimens drilled with CM process was higher than the AWJM specimens. Furthermore, the endurance limit for a composite plate drilled with CM was approximately 10% inferior compared to specimens drilled with AWJM. This difference can be related to the initial surface integrity after machining induced by the difference in the mechanism of material's removal between the two processes used. Key words: E. Machining, C. Damage mechanics; D. Mechanical testing, E. Thermal analysis;