Application of the Taguchi method for evaluating delamination during the machining of fiberglass

In the article, application of the Taguchi method for optimizing the milling parameters of pultruded fiberglass composites to reduce material delamination is examined. Key technological factors influencing machining quality are identified, namely: cutting speed, feed per tooth, depth of cut, and tool coating type. The L18 orthogonal array was employed for effective exper-imental design. The delamination factor was calculated using Chen’s empirical formula. The signal-to-noise ratio was applied to assess process stability, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine significance of each factor’s influence. Numerical modeling based on the finite element method (FEM) was performed to validate the results.For the experiment, the pultruded fiberglass channel section of 100×50×6 mm was used as the workpiece. The ma-chining tests were conducted with a four-flute solid carbide end mill with TiN coating, diameter 6 mm. Cutting parameters were varied within the following ranges: depth of cut (ap): 5 and 10 mm; feed per tooth (fz): 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 mm/tooth; cutting speed (V): 80, 100, and 120 m/min. The obtained data enable identification of optimal machining parameters to minimize delamination defects. The research results can be applied in industrial processing of composite materials where high precision and reliability are required.The analysis of theoretical models for calculating delamination factor provided a comprehensive assessment of the in-fluence of milling parameters on formation of interlaminar defects in pultruded fiberglass composites. The obtained results reveal significant discrepancies between predictions generated by different mathematical approaches. The highest delamina-tion factor values were observed with the proprietary empirical model, developed based on experimental data processing, indicating its high sensitivity to variations in feed rate, depth of cut, and cutting speed under the specific conditions of pultruded composite machining.