Volume 10 Issue 4 ( December )

Float glass is undoubtedly an important material which is widely used across the globe due to its various favourable mechanical, thermal and optical properties. The increased demand and applications of float glass has motivated the industries to devise more efficient methods so as to enhance the surface smoothness as well as production rate of the products made from the float glass. Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) can be identified as a recent method which is a non-conventional hybrid manufacturing process used for drilling holes into brittle and composite material including float glass. The literature reveals that this machining process has proved as an efficient approach for drilling holes in brittle materials without incorporating high cutting forces and improved quality surface finish of machined part. This paper aims to study the float glass machining process and determine the favourable conditions that aid in improvement of surface quality and material removal rate. More specifically, the research has been conducted considering ultrasonic power and feed rate as process variables on machine characteristics namely surface roughness and material removal rate. To analyze the results, a popular statistical technique called response surface methodology (RSM) has been employed. The optimal parametric setting is also determined to decrease the roughness of machined surface along with improved material removal rate for the benefit of practitioners.

Keywords: Hybrid Manufacturing, Float Glass, Response Surface Methodology, Rotary-Ultrasonic Machining