Improving the process of cutting polymer composites

Abstract

In recent decades, the growth rate of production of composite materials has been constantly growing, mainly due to their use in rocket and aerospace engineering.
Due to lower costs, composite materials began to be used in other areas: chemical engineering, medicine, transport, and the production of consumer goods.
No less difficult task is the design and machining of products from composite materials. The widespread use of fibrous polymer composite materials is constrained precisely because of the problems of the quality of the surface layer during their machining. The problems are due to the fact that the difference in the elastic and strength properties of the binder and filler in the composite material leads to the fact that under the action of mechanical forces and temperature in the surface layer of the material during cutting there is a mass break of the adhesive bonds between the fibers and the matrix and the destruction of the surface layer at the interface structural components of the composite. This leads to the occurrence of a specific “hairiness” defect of the treated surface. In addition, thermomechanical restructuring of the polymer components of the composite takes place. The depth of the defective layer can reach 300 ... 500 microns.
The above-mentioned defects of the surface layer significantly worsen properties of products made of composite materials such as their mechanical strength, hardness, moisture absorption, dielectric properties and others.
To date, there are no scientifically based recommendations on the machining of composite materials to avoid the destruction of the surface layer.