Optimization of Drilling Process Parameters for AISI 316L by Using Taguchi Method

Abstract

Drilling operation is one of the fundamental processes in the manufacturing industry to drill holes especially in sheet metal parts. It is observed that the produced parts under the drilling process have high rejection because of surface roughness in drilled hole. The main objective of this work is to reduce surface roughness in drilling operation. As drilling is the operation which is carried at the end process for final machining of components requires smooth surfaces and precise tolerances. It is a widely used in industry aerospace, aircraft, automotive industries and many more. The paper discusses following input processes parameters namely spindle speed, drilled hole depth and feed rate. In this work, experimental investigation is done to predict drilling behavior and to achieve optimal operating processes parameters. A software package is utilized which integrates these various models to simulate what happens during drilling operation processes. Predictions from this simulation are analyzed by calibration with actual data. It involves many variables such as spindle speed, feed rate, chemical composition of work piece, etc. A number of drilling experiments is conducted using the L9 orthogonal array on VMC drilling machine. The experiments is performed on AISI 316L block using HSS twist drills. The measured results is collected and analyzed with the help of the commercial software package MINITAB16. The main objective in this is to optimize drilling parameters. In order to do so, Taguchi method, Analysis of variance and linear regression analysis is employed to determine the most significant control factors affecting the surface roughness, and material removal rate which can be obtained from Taguchi S/N ratios analysis.