Abstract
Milling is often employed to control the dimensions and shape of components made of composite materials. Due to the peculiar nature of composites, mathematical analysis of the material response to milling has not been fully developed, and limited experimental work in this area has been reported. Knowledge acquired from metal cutting can only be used with care. This paper presents a preliminary study on milling of continuous carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy. The chip forms observed reveal the cutting mechanism to involve fracture rather than plastic deformation, and the chips produced can be hazardous to humans. Serious burrs can form when fibres are not cut successfully. The components of the cutting force reflect the effort required in the various modes of breakage of the strong fibres. Special attention is paid to the effect of fibre orientation on the cut quality, cutting force and tool wear. The milled surface parallel to the laminae is found to be quite smooth for different cutting conditions. Some characteristics of milling of composite materials are summarized. © 1993.