Optimizing Surface Roughness of Nylon6/CaCO3 Nano-Composites Using Harmony Search Algorithm

Nowadays, polymer-based Nano-composites are of special importance in industry considering their mechanical properties including high strength to weight ratio. On another hand, since Nano-composites produced by methods such as extrusion are at simple cross sections, it is necessary to machine them in order to reach geometrically complex figures. Surface roughness is a parameter affecting mechanical specifications of the machined part. Thus, it is necessary to study surface roughness of the machined parts to reach optimized cutting parameters and optimized surface roughness. The present paper tries to experimentally test milling of Nylon 6/ CaCo3 Nano-composites and measure surface roughness of the milled surfaces using the obtained data. The obtained data were used to model surface roughness to obtain an appropriate model for its milling. Finally, the obtained model was optimized using harmony search algorithm to reach optimized surface roughness and cutting parameters.