Enhancing Drilling Performance in Natural Fiber-Reinforced Biocomposites Using Taguchi Method for Sustainable Manufacturing

The current research work focuses on optimizing drilling parameters for Sesbania rostrata fiber-reinforced polycaprolactone (PCL) biocomposites using the Taguchi method and ANOVA to improve hole quality, particularly to minimize delamination. The Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was employed with three factors: spindle speed (300, 750, and 1800 rpm), feed rate (0.05, 0.12, and 0.25 mm/rev), and drill size (4, 8, and 10 mm). The experimental results showed that drill size had the most significant effect on thrust force, with a contribution rate of 99.29%, whereas spindle speed primarily influenced delamination, contributing 67.65%. Optimal parameters were determined to be a spindle speed of 300 rpm, a feed rate of 0.25 mm/rev, and a drill size of 10 mm. These findings are significant for industries using biocomposites, offering sustainable solutions with enhanced machining performance.