Experimental Comparative Analysis of Hole-Making Strategies and Cutting Parameters on Flexural Properties and Induced Delamination in S2 Glass and Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Polymers

Abstract

Open holes are often required in the applications of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP). However, machining them leads to fiber and matrix damage, reducing the overall quality of composites. The novelty of this study lies in investigating the influence of multiple hole machining strategies under varying feed rates and cutting speeds on the flexural strength, chord modulus and hole quality for S2-Glass (S2-GFRP) and basalt fiber-reinforced polymers (BFRP), followed by three-point bending tests and statistical analysis to determine the optimum machining parameters in terms of flexural properties, delamination, and time efficiency. Findings indicate that conventional milling yields an increase in the flexural strength and chord modulus by 22.2 MPa and 1.9 GPa, respectively, for S2 GFRP. While climb milling performs best for BFRP, enhancing flexural performance by 7.6 MPa and 0.4 GPa. Direct drilling at high feed rate and cutting speed shows the poorest performance. Hole machining at low feed rate using climb milling minimizes delamination at the entrance by 14.8% for S2 GFRP and by 2.7% for BFRP using conventional milling. At the exit, helical milling at a low feed rate suppresses delamination damage by 58.5% and 10.7% for S2 GFRP and BFRP. The most time-efficient method is direct drilling at a feed rate of 0.075 mm/rev and cutting speed of 75 m/min or climb milling with same feed rate, but 25 m/min cutting speed. Within the tested ranges, the optimized drilling setup significantly improved structural performance of S2-GFRP and GFRP, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed experimental-statistical framework.