Effect of support and adhesive tape to reduce delamination of carbon fiber reinforced polymer during drilling

Article Effect of Support and Adhesive Tape to Reduce Delamination of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer during Drilling Animesh Kumar Basak 1,2, Alokesh Pramanik 3,*, Subramaniam Shankar 4,5, Thangamuthu Mohanraj 6 and Chander Prakash 7 1 Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia 2 Centre for Research Impact & Outcome, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Rajpura 140401, Punjab, India 3 School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia 4 ProMind Research Academy, Erode 638012, Tamil Nadu, India 5 Nandha Engineering College, Erode 638052, Tamil Nadu, India 6 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore 641112, Tamil Nadu, India 7 Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali 140413, Punjab, India * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 13 November 2024; Revised: 22 January 2025;Accepted: 24 January 2025; Published: 10 February 2025 Abstract: Drilling carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) often causes several kinds of damage around the hole, such as delamination, which is considered one of the main issues that may occur when drilling the CFRP laminate. It significantly decreases the structural strength of the composite material and reduces its long-term performance. Using support plates and stacked materials as layers on the composite material has been identified as one of the main methods often used to reduce delamination. This research investigates the variations in delamination, fibre pull-out, thrust force, drilling torque, circularity and diameter error when drilling with and without adhesive tape layers. Furthermore, the research paper also explores the effect of varying drilling conditions and drill bit geometries on those output parameters. It has been revealed from the results that the proposed use of both adhesive tape layers and support plates can significantly limit delamination and fibre pull-out damages, thereby achieving a better-quality hole when drilling CFRP, as opposed to just using adhesive tape layers.