Designing Machine Tool Structures With Epoxy Concrete

Ab stract: The materials used in the manufacture of machine tools structures affects the metal removal rate; accuracy and surface finish of the products. The materials, in turn, have influence over the method of production, lead times and overall costs of the machine tool structures. Over a period of time machine tool builders relied on conventional materials, for the fabrication of machine tool structures, which have some inherent disadvantages. Those disadvantages have led researchers to investigate alternate materials for machine tool structures. Different non-conventional materials are being tried out globally for machine tool structures. Epoxy concrete is one of them, which has been developed at Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur and effectively utilized in precision machine tool and allied structures. The development comprises the evaluation of different process parameters and the process know-how for the technology. The process parameters are both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The present paper describes the evaluation of one of the quantitative parameters i.e. ultimate compressive strength of epoxy concrete. For experimentation, Four-factor Factorial Design of Experiments was utilized. Test specimens were cast following the design of experiments and data were generated. The data were analyzed using Yates’ Method and other statistical tools.