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This paper aims to investigate the effect and parametric optimization of process parameters during milling of glass fibre-reinforced plastics (GFRP) composites using grey relational analysis (GRA).

Experiments are conducted using helix angle, spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut and fibre orientation angle as typical process parameters. GRA is adopted to obtain grey relational grade for the milling process with multiple characteristics, namely, machining force and material removal rate (MRR). Analysis of variance is performed to get the contribution of each parameter on the performance characteristics.

It is observed that helix angle and fibre orientation angle are the most significant process parameters that affect the milling of GFRP composites. The experimental results reveal that the helix angle of 45°, spindle speed of 3000 rpm, feed rate of 1000 mm/min, depth of cut of 2 mm and fibre orientation angle of 15° is the optimum combination of lower machining force and higher MRR. The experimental results for the optimal setting show that there is considerable improvement in the process.

Optimization of process parameters on machining force and MRR during endmilling of GFRP composites using GRA has not been attempted previously.