Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

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Composites: Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Study of trimming damages of CFRP structures in function

of the machining processes and their impact on the mechanical behavior
M. Haddad a,1, R. Zitoune a,,1, H. Bougherara b, F. Eyma c,1, B. Castani d,1
a

IUT-A GMP, 133 c, Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse, France

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
c
IUT de Tarbes, Dept. GMP, 1, rue Lautreamont, 65000 Tarbes, France
d
INSA, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse, France
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 9 June 2013
Received in revised form 24 July 2013
Accepted 30 September 2013
Available online 9 October 2013
Keywords:
A. Carbon bers
B. Defects
B. Delamination
B. Fatigue
B. Mechanical properties

a b s t r a c t
The main focus of this paper is to investigate the defects generated by different machining processes
(namely burr tool machining, abrasive water jet machining AWJM and abrasive diamond cutter ADS)
and their impact on the mechanical behavior of CFRP in quasi-static (compression and inter-laminar
shear) and tensiletensile fatigue tests. The cutting conditions are selected so that different levels of degradation can be obtained. The machined surface is characterized using roughness measuring devices with
and without contact and SEM observations. The results show that the defects generated during the trimming process with a cutting tool are bers pull-out and resin degradation. These defects are mainly
located in the layers with the bers oriented at 45 and 90. However, when using abrasive water jet
and abrasive diamond processes, the defects generated have the form of streaks and are not dependent
on the ber orientation. Furthermore, the results of quasi-static tests performed on specimens machined
by cutting tools show that AWJ specimens offer a better resistance in compression but the ADS samples
offer higher inter-laminar-shear strengths. Moreover, the results of fatigue tests show that specimens
machined with a burr tool offer higher endurance limit. Finally, it is concluded that the type and the
mode of the mechanical loading (quasi-static fatigue) affect the mechanical response of CFRP and favor
a given machining process.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Trimming is the rst machining operation performed on composite structures after demoulding. However, the anisotropy and
the highly heterogeneous nature of composite materials make
their machinability very complex. In addition, regardless of the
machining process used (conventional or non-conventional), the
phenomenon of the removal of material is followed by the appearance of damaged zones. This can lead to the non-respect of the
machining quality (according to imposed industrial standards).
These damaged areas are located on the free edges of the machined
surface (uncut bers/aking/delamination) and/or on the machined surface (uncut bers, thermal and/or mechanical degradation of the matrix) [1,2]. When machining is conducted with a
cutting tool such as in the case of conventional machining, the defects localized at the free edges are mainly inuenced by the cutting forces. These forces are strongly affected by the cutting
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 562258872; fax: +33 562258747.
E-mail address: redouane.zitoune@iut-tlse3.fr (R. Zitoune).
Address: 133c, avenue de Rangueil. Dpart. GMP de lIUT-A de luniversit de
Toulouse, INSA, UPS, Mines dAlbi, ISAE, ICA (Institut Clment Ader), France.
1

1359-8368/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2013.09.051

tools geometry, the cutting parameters, the tool wear, etc. Concerning the damages located on the machined surface, they are
mainly affected by the relative angle between the cutting speed
direction and the ber direction of the machined composite material, the cutting parameters and also by the wear of the cutting tool
[1,2].
In order to better understand the phenomenon behind the
emergence of these damages and the different mechanisms leading
to their formation, various research studies have been carried out.
These studies, which are mainly based on the orthogonal cutting
[35], have shown that damages due to machining are mainly
inuenced by the relative angle (H) measured between the cutting
speed direction and the bers orientation. In this case, the maximum damage is observed when this angle (H) is at 45 and
90. In addition, the severity of these defects increases with the increase of the wear of the cutting tool [2,610], that is why tools
made of diamond and carbide are highly recommended for
machining composite materials [1].
Several studies in the literature have mentioned that the
generated defects are strongly related to the bers direction
[29]. This result is well observed during the orthogonal cutting
[35]. With the increasing of the tool wear, the propagation of

M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

the delamination is commonly observed during the drilling of composite materials [1013]. Based on previous studies [1416], the ber content and the manufacturing process of the composite part
have an important inuence on quality of the machined surface.
In order to reduce damages during trimming of composite material processes of machining with the diamond cutter (ADS) and the
abrasive water-jet machining (AWJM) are recommended [1719].
When AWJM is considered, the defects observed are striations on
the exit of the water jet and craters on the machined surface. Chen
and Siores [20] have mentioned that the defects generated during
the machining of metallic materials by AWJ process are mainly affected by the magnitude and the distribution of the kinetic energy.
Other experimental studies [1719] have shown that the size of
streaks increases with the distance from the water jet source.
Currently in the industrial eld, the parameter used for qualifying the machined surface of a composite material is the arithmetic
average roughness (Ra). It is important to note that the roughness
parameter (Ra) is initially developed to qualify the machined surfaces of metallic materials. When considering composite materials,
there is a controversy about the use of this parameter. In fact, different studies have shown contradictory results. For instance, the
results of mechanical tensile tests carried out on unidirectional
(UD) samples made of glass bers and epoxy resin and oriented
at +45 relative to the axis of loading [6] have shown that the tensile strength increases with the increase of the average roughness
(Ra). Conversely, the results of compressive mechanical tests conducted on UD specimens oriented at 0 (ber direction in the same
direction of the loading) [21] have shown that the stress failure decreases with the increase of the surface roughness. Eriksen [22] has
investigated the effect of the surface roughness on the quasi-static
and fatigue behavior of short ber reinforced plastics and found
that the mechanical behavior (at the macro scale) of the composite
part made of short bers is not affected by the surface roughness.
For Multidirectional CFRP, a comparative study between abrasive
water jet (AWJ) machining, cutting with abrasive diamond cutter
(ADS) and edge trimming with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) was
conducted by [23,24]. The study has shown that the abrasive diamond cutter provides better results in terms of surface roughness
and bending mechanical resistance. However, the PCD specimens
gave a good surface roughness (Ra) and a poorest bending mechanical resistance. The study also suggested, without providing important details that the bending mechanical resistance of AWJ samples
decreases with the increase of the average surface roughness (Ra).
Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold: rst, to investigate
the inuence of the trimming processes (conventional vs. non-conventional machining) on the induced damages and, second, to
examine the impact of these damages on the mechanical behavior
of the composite specimens. For this purpose, quasi-static tests
(compressive and interlaminate shear tests) combined with fatigue
tests (tensiontension) have been conducted on different composite specimens obtained with trimming using a burr tool and by the
ADS cutting process. Quasi-static tests are curried out on specimens obtained by a standard cutting tool (burr tool), an abrasive
water jet machining (AWJ) and an abrasive diamond cutter
(ADS). During fatigue tests, an Infrared (IR) camera is used to quantify the damage and estimate the endurance limit of the different
composite samples used. In addition, the effect of rectication on
the quasi-static and fatigue responses is also investigated.

2. Experimental procedures
2.1. Material preparation
Carbon-ber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites of 5.2 mm
thickness (20 layers) were used for conducting the trimming study.

137

CFRP composite plates were made using unidirectional prepregs

supplied by Hexcel Composite Company referenced under T700/
M21-GC. In order to get a multidirectional laminate, a staking sequence corresponding to [90/90/-45/0/45/90/-45/90/45/90]S is
chosen. This stacking sequence was chosen because it was demonstrated in a previous work [25] that the edge delamination phenomenon occurs during compression tests. The curing process for
these CFRP specimens was carried out at 180 C for 120 min during
which the pressure was maintained at 7 bars in an autoclave while
the vacuum pressure was set to 0.7 bar. The prepregs are characterized by a ply thickness of 0.26 mm, a ber content Vf = 59%, a
longitudinal Young modulus El = 142 GPa, a transversal Young
modulus Et = 8.4 GPa, a shear modulus: G12 = 3.8 GPa and a glass
transition temperature: Tg = 187 C.
2.2. Samples preparation
The composite specimens were prepared using three cutting
processes, an abrasive water jet (AWJ), a diamond cutter (ADS)
and a standard cutting tool. JEDO technologies company conducted the abrasive water jet machining using an abrasive mesh
# 220 which had a mean diameter of 67 lm with a ow rate of
300 g/min, a nozzle diameter of 0.25 mm and a pressure of
3600 bar. To generate two different surface qualities two feed
speeds were chosen, namely 100 mm/min and 500 mm/min. A total of ve specimens were prepared for each cutting condition and
for each quasi-static and fatigue mechanical test.
The ADS samples were obtained by a diamond saw (cutter) referenced under DIAMFORCE JANTE CONTINUE-D100-AL19-GR
427. In order to study the impact of the rectication process on
the mechanical behavior, a thickness of 0.5 mm was removed from
each side of some CFRP samples initially machined by ADS cutting.
The standard cutting tool machining experiments were performed
using a DUBUS 3-axis milling machine. These experiments were
conducted using a full experimental design; with three cutting
speeds (350 m/min, 700 m/min and 1400 m/min) and three feed
speeds (125 mm/min, 250 mm/min and 500 mm/min). However
in this paper only specimens having similar roughness values as
the abrasive water jet machining and ADS cutting plus a cutting
condition where the surface roughness is very high (poor surface
quality) are considered. It is important to notice that samples with
similar roughness values are generated by different combinations
of cutting speed, feed speed and cutting distance (Lc). For fatigue
tests, two specimens were prepared using a burr tool. The rst
one is machined with a new tool with a cutting speed of 700 m/
min and a feed speed of 500 mm/min in order to generate a good
surface quality. The second specimen is machined by a used tool
after a machining distance of 2.6 m. A cutting speed of 1400 m/
min and a feed speed of 125 mm/min were chosen to generate a
poor surface quality.
2.3. Surface defects characterization
The machined surfaces were analyzed using two measurement
devices. First, a surface roughness tester Mitutoyo SJ 500 was
used to measure the surface roughness, the total measuring length
was set to 5 mm to avoid any overowing. The second device is a 3D
topographer Altisurf 520 was used to perform the 3D measurements and surface roughnesses without contact. The Altisurf 520
uses the principle of optical microscopy with confocal white light
source. The wavelength was analyzed by a focused spectrophotometer analysis that measures the distance between the lens and the
surface of the object. The measuring step was set to 4 lm on both
directions x and y. The results obtained with both measurement
techniques were then correlated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) images obtained using a scanning electron microscope

M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

JEOL. The average surface roughness Ra which measures the

average vertical distance of the mean roughness prole line from
all measured data points is chosen, since higher surface irregularities increase the probability of nucleation sites for cracks. So it is a
good indicator for mechanical performances.
2.4. Mechanical experiments
2.4.1. Static loading
Mechanical quasi-static tests were performed at room temperature using an MTS 322 tester with hydraulic jaws (Fig. 1). The
compressive, tensile, and inter-laminar shear tests were conducted
following AFNOR NF T 51-120-3, NF EN ISO 527-4 and AFNOR NF T
57-104 standards.
2.4.2. Fatigue loading
Fatigue tests were conducted an MTS machine equipped with
hydraulically operated wedge grips. The tested specimens have
been instrumented on the surface by an extensometer which was
used to monitor the local strain allowing the calculation of the
stiffness degradation of the specimen during the cyclic loading. A
FLIR SC5000 infrared camera with a pixel resolution of 320  240
and a temperature sensitivity of <20 mK was used to monitor the
surface temperature. The camera is equipped with a lock-in signal
input and advanced triggering features allowing for the synchronization of the images. A photograph of the test setup with application of the IR camera is shown in Fig. 1. For the cyclic tests, a
frequency of 10 Hz and an emissivity of e = 0.9 for the composite
plates was chosen. The infrared camera was synchronized to the
test controller in order to trigger the acquisition of images at the
same point in each loading cycle, which is necessary to eliminate
any variation of temperature due to cycling between maximum
and minimum cyclic stresses.
The fatigue tests were conducted in a load control environment
using a constant amplitude sinusoidal waveform, a loading frequency of 10 Hz and a stress ratio of 0.1 at various maximum applied stress levels ranging from 8% to 75% of the ultimate
strength (UTS).
The deformation of the structure is usually followed by heat
dissipation. When the material is deformed or damaged, a part of
the energy, necessary to the starting and the propagation of the
damage, is irreversibly transformed into heat [2735]. In general,
the endurance limit is obtained by Whler curves (stress vs.

cycles). This endurance limit can also be obtained from the temperature stabilization curves [29,30] by intersecting the two straight
lines that interpolates the stabilization temperature and the corresponding stress level.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Quasi-static tests
3.1.1. Inuence of machining process on the quasi-static mechanical
behavior
Fig. 2 shows the results of quasi-static, compressive and interlaminar shear stresses tests curried out on specimens obtained
by the three machining processes and characterized by identical
surface roughness devices. From these gures, it is noticed that
the samples obtained by AWJ are characterized by higher compressive stresses than those of specimens machined by conventional
machining processes (i.e., cutting tool or ADS). For instance, for
specimens with an average surface roughness Ra of 6.4 lm, the
compressive strength of specimens machined by AWJ are 15%
higher than those of specimens machined by the ADS cutting (cf.
Fig. 2a). For the same surface roughness value, it is observed that
the discrepancy between the compressive stresses of specimens
machined with AWJ and those with burr tool is around of 21%.
However when considering inter-laminar shear strength, ADS
samples offer better results than the two other machining processes. For instance, for the specimens machined by ADS process,
the inter-laminar shear stress is around 57 Mps and for the
AWJ process is around 53 Mps. It is then concluded that the
mechanical proprieties of specimens are strongly inuenced by

350

Compressive strength (MPa)

138

Abrasive water jet machining (AWJ)

Standard cutting tool machining
Abrasive Diamond cutter (ADS)

300

250

200

150

(a)
100
6.4

10.0

19.8

Interlaminar shear strength (MPa)

Ra (m)
60

Abrasive water jet machining (AWJ)

Standard cutting tool machining
Abrasive diamond cutter (ADS)

58
56
54
52
50
48
46
44
42

(b)

40

6.4

10.0

19.8

Ra (m)

Fig. 1. Experimental setup for fatigue tests.

Fig. 2. Quasi static strength responses vs. surface roughness of different samples
obtained by AWJ machining, burr tool machining and ADS cutting. (a) Compressive
strength. (b) Inter laminar shear strength.

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M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

80
Abrasive water jet machining (AWJ)

70

Standard cutting tool machining

Abrasive diamond cutter (ADS)

60

Rv (m)

the mode of the machining process and the mode of loading: tension/compression/bending/shear, etc.
Also, it is noticed that the compressive and the inter-laminar
shear strengths of specimens obtained by AWJ are decreasing
while increasing the surface roughness (cf. Fig. 2b). For instance
the average roughness Ra varies from 6 lm to 10 lm, the failure
stress in compression obtained decreases from 320 MPa to
285 MPa. However, for specimens obtained with a conventional
machining (burr tool) a random evolution of the compressive and
the inter-laminar strength are observed when increasing the surface roughness value (cf. Fig. 2a and b).
It is also observed that, smaller standard deviations (around
6 MPa) are obtained when considering samples machined with
the AWJ process. This reects the good repeatability of the machined surfaces with the AWJ process.
The differences in the mechanical behavior could be related to
the form of the defects generated during the trimming process of
the composite specimens. In fact, some shapes of damages can promote an important stress concentration that leads to the deterioration of composites mechanical properties.

50
40
30
20
10
0
6.4

10.0

19.8

Ra (m)
Fig. 4. Evolution of the roughness valley (Rv) vs. the surface roughness (Ra).

3.1.2. Generated defects during trimming

Fig. 3 shows the defects obtained after trimming with conventional machining using a burr tool. It is observed that defects induced by the cutting tool are located mainly at the plies oriented
at 45 (Fig. 3). These defects have the form of wrenched areas
with different depths varying from 30 lm to 70 lm (Fig. 4) when
the average roughness Ra varies from 6.4 lm to 19.8 lm. These
defects can also be assimilated to craters or even cracks. The presence of these cracks induces areas of stress concentration which result on the relatively small values of the compressive strength and
inter-laminar shear strength when considering conventional
machining with a burr tool.
The defects generated after machining with the ADS cutting
process have mostly the form of streaks (Fig. 5). These streaks represent wrenched areas and follow the tool trajectory. They are
caused by the random distribution of diamond grains with different sizes and shapes on the cutting face of the abrasive diamond
cutter (ADS). The trajectory of the defects is strongly linked to
the cutting tool trajectory, while the ber directions have no effect
on these damages. For this reason, the ADS defects are observed on
the entire machined surface (Fig. 5b) and the distinction of the different ber orientations is impossible. The nature of these damages
depends mainly of the feed speed (in this case, it is controlled
manually by the operator) and the size of diamond grains which

Wrench areas

328.6 m

(a)

Fibre pull
outs
1 mm
4 mm

(b)

Uncut fibres
Wrenched areas

Uncut fibres
600 m

Fig. 3. Form of the trimmed surface after machining with burr tool. (a) Image
topography 3D. (b) SEM observation.

(a)
112.9 mm

5 mm

1 mm

(b)
Streaks
600 m

Fig. 5. Machined surface obtained by ADS cutter. (a) 3D topography. (b) SEM
observation.

explains the high standard deviation of the results. The depth of

these defects is around 30 lm. This value is smaller than those obtained on the trimmed surface by burr tool.
For the AWJ, it was observed that the defects generated by this
process have the form of streaks and craters. 3D topography and
SEM observation indicate that streaks defects appear at the exit
of the machined surface however the craters cover the entire machined surface (Fig. 6). Based on the literature review, the length
and the width of the streaks defects decrease with the increase (decrease) of the jet pressure (feed speed) [1719]. The cutting process by AWJ occurs by the erosion mechanisms and the produced
damages are independent of the bers orientation (cf. Fig. 6a)
and appear periodically all over the surface. Getting repeatable defects all over the surface explains the small standard deviation obtained after mechanical tests.
3.1.3. Effect of rectication on the mechanical behavior
To investigate the inuence of the wrenched damages, ten specimens machined by ADS (ve for each quasi-static mechanical test)
are rectied in order to remove the wrenched damages and to get a
continuous surface, and tested in quasi-static loading.
Fig. 7 represents the inuence of the rectication process on the
failure stresses of compressive and inter-laminar shear tests. It is

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M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

0.14

(a)

(a)m
191.5

36 kN
32 kN

0.12

28 kN
24 kN

5 mm

(b)

0.1

20 kN
16 kN

Damage

2 mm
Streaks (exit of
600
the water jet) m

12 kN

0.08

8 kN
4 kN

0.06

0.04

600 m

Streachs (exit of the

water jet)

0.02

0
Fig. 6. Machined surface obtained by abrasive water jet. (a) 3D topography. (b) SEM
observation.

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Normalized cycle (N/Nf)

Fig. 8. Accumulation of damage obtained for a burr tool specimen under different
loading amplitudes vs. the normalized cycles (N/Nf).

ADS specimens with rectification

ADS specimens without rectification

Compressive strength (MPa)

350

(a)
300

250

From Fig. 7b, it is noticed that the rectication process has no

inuence on the inter-laminar shear strength. It can be assumed
that this type of solicitation is not affected by the wrenched areas
defects. This may explain the fact that ADS machining process produces specimens with higher inter-laminar shear strength even
with the presence of wrenched areas defects on its machining
surfaces.

200

3.2. Fatigue tests

150

3.2.1. Damage analysis

After the fatigue tests the damage accumulation (D) which represents the change in the ratio of dynamic stiffness (Ei) to static
stiffness (E0) is calculated by the following equation:

100

1.5

6.4

Ra (m)

D1

ADS specimens with rectification

Ei
E0

Interlaminar shear strength (MPa)

ADS specimens without rectification

60

(b)

58
56
54
52
50
48
46
44
42
40
1.5

6.4

Ra (m)
Fig. 7. Inuence of the rectication process of specimens trimmed by ADS process
on the mechanical behavior. (a) Compressive test. (b) Inter-laminar shear test.

observed that, after the compressive tests, the rectied specimens

present a failure stress of 10% more compared to specimens without rectication. Hence, the failure stress during compressive tests
is strongly inuenced by the size of the damages (depth of
wrenched areas) induced by the trimming process.

The damage proles vs. the normalized cycles (N/Nf, where

Nf = 10,000 cycles) obtained for a burr tool (good surface quality:
Vc = 700 m/min, Vf = 500 mm/min) are shown in Fig. 8. From this
gure it is noticed that the accumulated damage is inferior to 5%
for loads below 24 kN (50% of UTS).
When the load reaches 32 kN (67% UTS) the accumulated damage does not exceed 7%. However, when the applied load reaches
36 kN (75% UTS) the accumulated damages is equal to 12.5%. Similar trends were observed when considering the other specimens
obtained by ADS, by rectication and by edge trimming (poor surface quality, Vc = 1400 m/min, Vf = 125 mm/min).
Fig. 9 represents the accumulated damages at the end of cycle
for the different machining processes. It is observed that, when
considering a load of 36 MPa (75% UTS) the specimen obtained
by ADS and rectication processes have the same rate of damage
accumulation (around 8%) at the end of the loading cycle. However,
with the same condition, the trimmed specimens with a burr tool
present more important accumulated damages (around 12%). So, it
is also noticed that, whatever the quality of the machining surface
after trimming by a burr tool is, the accumulated damage of specimens subjected to fatigue is 50% higher than the accumulated
damage of other specimens made using ADS process.
It is important to mention that although the average roughness
Ra obtained by both cutting processes (ADS cutting and by trimming with a burr tool) are similar (cf. Table 1), the fatigue behavior

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M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

0.14

Burr tool-good surface quality

Burr tool-poor surface quality
ADS cutting
Rectified specimen

Cumulative damage

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Load (kN)
Fig. 9. Evolution of the damage at the end of the loading cycles as a function of the
different loading charges.

for these specimens is totally different. In fact, it can be concluded

that the criteria used nowadays to quantify the quality of the machined surface (e.g., Ra, Sa, etc.) is not suitable for machined composite materials.
3.2.2. Thermography analysis
Fig. 10 shows the evolution of temperatures for different loads
during fatigue tests on specimens machined with burr tool (surface
roughness Ra of 8.89 lm). It is observed that the temperature remains constant throughout the surface for loads less than 16 kN
(DT = 02 C). With the increase of loading and until 28 kN, the
temperature increases moderately for each load step (DT = 3
13 C). However, when the loading is increased by 4 kN to reach
32 kN an important increase of the temperature is noticed
(DT = 23 C). This temperature continues to substantially increase
until the nal rupture of the specimen (DT = 43 C). This variation
on the temperature prole is due to the thermo-elasticity of the
material and the friction between the layers (i.e. bers/bers
and/or bers/matrix). Three stages for the temperature evolution
were distinguished. In the rst stage, an important increase is observed, in the second stage, the temperature reaches a balance due
to the saturation in the damage. With the increasing loading, the
rate of the damage and frictions become more important. This stability is followed by an abrupt increase of the damage and temperature of the specimen corresponding to the rupture [26]. For the
nal load, the saturation is not reached and an important increase
in the temperature is observed. This increase represents the third
and nal step before rupture. From the literature works [3638],
the augmentation of temperatures while loading is related to several factors (matrix cracking, delamination, bers breakage, etc.).
In the rst stage, matrix cracking occurs at weak points of the
material. In the second stage a debonding and ber matrix delamination take place. In the nal phase an abrupt temperature due to
ber breakage and continues until the total failure of the specimens [37].

Fig. 10. Evolution of temperature as a function of the normalized cycle (N/Nf) for
standard cutting tool machining sample.

The evolution of the temperatures obtained at the end of the

loading cycle as a function of different load steps and for different
specimens is presented in Fig. 11. It is noticed that specimens obtained with a burr tool have the same behavior and that their maximum temperatures before the total fracture are around 70 C.
These temperatures are higher compared to those recorded during
fatigue tests on specimens machined by ADS and rectication processes. A difference in temperature around 40% (23%) is obtained
when comparing with ADS specimens without (with) rectication.
It is also noted that these temperatures increase exponentially
when increasing the loading charges.
3.2.3. Endurance limit investigation
From the literature review [22], the endurance limit is obtained
by Whler curves (stress vs. cycles). This endurance limit can also
be obtained from the temperature stabilization curves [29,30] by
intersecting the two straight lines that interpolates the stabilization temperature and the corresponding stress level. The change
in temperature is given by

DT T f  T 0

where DT is the change in temperature, Tf is the nal temperature

and T0 is the initial temperature.
Temperature proles obtained after calculation (Eq. (2)) at
10,000 cycles for different loads and for the specimen machined
by ADS process are represented in Fig. 12. In this situation, the
endurance limit is estimated to 198.4 MPa. However for rectied
ADS specimen the endurance limit is improved by 7.5%. This
improvement is even higher when considering the specimen obtained by a burr tool with a similar surface roughness to ADS cutting specimen. In this case a variation of 14% is observed. Even
when considering the specimen obtained by a burr tool and having
a high surface roughness (Ra = 38.64 lm) the endurance limit is
higher to that of ADS cutting (10%) (Fig. 13).

Table 1
Surface roughness of all specimens.
Surface Roughness

Ra (lm)
Rp (lm)
Rv (lm)
Rz (lm)
Rt (lm)

Burr tool good surface quality

Burr tool poor surface quality

ADS sample

Rectication

8.89 1.71
31.34 5.99
31.66 8.41
63.0 13.04
86.92 23.13

38.64 6.69
127.95 24.7
86.88 16.15
214.83 37.9
265.69 39.1

8.87 1.96
29.14 8.86
28.86 10.15
58 18.1
74.01 32.19

1.47 0.16
5.27 0.48
8.51 3.84
13.77 4.07
19.08 7.65

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M. Haddad et al. / Composites: Part B 57 (2014) 136143

Tempertaure at the end of the

loading cycle (C)

80
Burr tool-good surface quality
Burr tool-poor surface quality
ADS cutting
Rectified specimen

70
60
50
40
30
20
0

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Load (KN)
Fig. 11. Evolution of the temperature at the end of the last cycle in function of the
applied loading.

Fig. 12. Temperature variation vs. stresses for the ADS specimen with rectication.

Endurance limit (MPa)

240
Burr tool- good
surface quality

230
220

Burr tool- poor

surface quality

Rectified
specimen

210
ADS cutting

200

compared to other specimens machined by (ADS and burr tool).

For instance when the specimens are machined by a burr tool
(with an average roughness Ra around 6 lm), the failure stress
in compression obtained is around 257 Mps and for the specimens machined by the AWJ process this failure stress is around
of 320 Mps. However, failure stresses in inter-laminar shear
tests of specimens trimmed by ADS process are superior to
those of specimens obtained with the other processes. For
example, for the specimens machined by ADS process, the
inter-laminar shear stress is around 57 Mps and for the AWJ
process is around 53 Mps. Therefore mechanical behavior is
highly affected by the choice of the machining process as well
as the type of mechanical loading.
Same surface roughness parameters (Ra, Rp, Rv, etc.) can be
obtained by different machining processes, however the form
of the defects is completely different from one machining process to another, these defects inuence the mechanical behavior
of the composite material under cyclic loading.
The rectication process conducted on specimens trimmed by
ADS process conrmed that the removal of the wrenched areas
improve the compressive strength. However, this rectication
process does not have any inuence on the inter-laminar shear
strength.
The fatigue tests carried out on various specimens trimmed by
different processes of machining show that the higher endurance limit corresponds to those specimens trimmed by burr tool
for any machined surface quality. In addition, the rectication
process improves the endurance limit of ADS specimens by
7.5%.
Finally, it is clear that surface roughness criteria which are used
as the gold standard for metallic materials, are not recommended for the machining of composite materials. It had been
seen that specimens obtained by a burr tool and with deferent
levels of surface quality (Ra = 8 lm, Ra = 38 lm) offer similar
results of the endurance limit. In addition, the specimens
obtained by the ADS process offer a lower endurance limit
(15%) for the same surface roughness as specimens trimmed
by the burr tool process.
The compressive and inter-laminar shear quasi-static tests
showed a higher mechanical strength for ADS specimens compared to specimens obtained by a burr tool. However, in tensiletensile fatigue tests, the specimens machined by a burr
tool have the highest endurance limit. Therefore, in addition
to the type of loading, the mode of mechanical loading (quasistatic, fatigue) may affect the mechanical response of the composite material.

190

References

180
1.47

8.87

8.89

38.64

Ra (m)
Fig. 13. Endurance limit vs. surface roughness for different specimens.

4. Conclusions
In this paper the effect of machining processes using conventional (a burr tool and an abrasive diamond cutter (ADS)) and
non-conventional machining (an abrasive water jet (AWJ)) on the
mechanical behavior of composite parts made of carbon/epoxy is
investigated. The following conclusions can be drawn:
 The quasi-static tests (compressive and inter-laminar shear
tests) showed that specimens machined by the AWJ process
present a failure stress in compression 1020% more important

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