Taguchi's Approach to Examine the Effect of Drilling Induced Damage on the Notched Tensile Strength of Woven GFR–epoxy Composites

Drilling of holes into laminates is essential to facilitate bolting or riveting to the main load-bearing structures. Delamination is the most evident damage that can be generated during the drilling of a laminate. This paper presents the design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques of Taguchi useful in examining the effect of drilling induced damage on the notched tensile strength of woven GFR–epoxy composites. Fracture data of center-hole tensile specimens are correlated using a modification in the inherent flaw model.