Drilling behavior of sisal fiber-reinforced polypropylene composite laminates

Recently, natural fiber-reinforced composites are becoming a viable alternative to synthetic fiber composites in many applications. Secondary processing in terms of hole making in composites is an almost unavoidable operation for facilitating the assembly operations. In the present experimental investigation, the drilling process of natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic bio-composites has been evaluated in terms of the drilling forces. The cutting speed, feed rate and the drill point geometry have been taken as the input process parameters. Two types of drill geometries (solid and hollow in shape) have been used for drilling in the present work. The cutting mechanism of solid and hollow drill point geometry are substantially different which consequently affects the drilling forces and drilling-induced damage.