Composite materials made of fiber-reinforced plastic laminates are highly susceptible to surface damage caused by wear during contour milling, especially with inappropriate tool and cutting material properties. Improper choice of tools and cutting conditions lead to delamination between applied layers, thermal damage of materials in the polymer matrix, and reduction of the edge quality of cutting tools. The study was devoted to circumferential milling of twill-bonded CFRP (carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer) sheets with a focus on cutting forces and tool flank face wear, including their effect on the machined surface structure, roughness, and topography of the laminate. The main objective of the study is to investigate the feasibility of applying conventional coated tools, which are not primarily designed for milling CFRP, in comparison to a dedicated DLC (diamond-like carbon) coated tool, due to economic and distribution availability and the possibility of providing suitable cutting conditions during milling. The study provides results confirming the possibility of using conventional tools for machining CFRP and provides relevant experimental results that can be implemented for optimal tool selection, tool life criteria, cutting conditions, and machining strategies including low energy consumption. The best values of the investigated parameters were obtained when using the ECSSF (instrument designation) tool with DLC coating.

Glass fibers are often used as reinforcing fibers in reinforced polymers. Composites reinforced with glass fibers (GFRP) stand out with excellent mechanical and physical properties applicable to industrial practice. Machining these composites requires the correct choice of tools and cutting conditions so that the machined surface shows good properties, there is no fiber delamination, thermal stress on the workpiece and the tool, or excessive tool wear. The study was devoted to circumferential milling of fabric-bonded GFRP plates, in which attention was paid to the influence of the abrasive effect of glass fibers on wear and tool life. Attention was also paid to surface roughness after machining, material delamination, and forces during machining were measured. Three end mills of the same diameter with different coatings, number of teeth, and geometry were selected for the study. This choice of tools was intended to achieve various accompanying and subsequent phenomena that were investigated. Milling was performed on a CNC milling center under preselected cutting conditions. The paper summarizes information on fiber delamination and machined laminate damage after milling, tool wear, and surface roughness parameters as a function of tool wear. This paper provides an opportunity for researchers to increase their knowledge of specific aspects of milling GFRP composites, whether with a tool specifically designed for this or not.

Composite materials with carbon and glass fibers in an epoxy matrix are widely used systems due to their excellent mechanical parameters, and machining is a standard finishing operation in their manufacture. Previous studies focused exclusively on the characteristics of the fibers released into the air. This work aimed to analyze the nature of the material waste that remains on the work surface after machining. The dust on the work surface is made up of fibers and a polymer matrix, and due to its dimensions and chemical stability, it is a potentially dangerous inhalable material currently treated as regular waste. The smallest sizes of destroyed carbon fibers were generated during drilling and grinding (0.1 μm), and the smallest glass fiber particles were generated during milling (0.05 μm). Due to their nature, carbon fibers break by a tough fracture, and glass fibers by a brittle fracture. In both cases, the rupture of the fibers was perpendicular to or at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the fibers. The average lengths of destroyed carbon fibers from the tested processes ranged from 15 to 20 µm and 30 to 60 µm for glass fibers.