Effect of tool wear on delamination in drilling composite materials

Among all machining operations, drilling using twist drill is the most frequently applied for secondary machining of composite materials owing to the need for structure joining. Delamination is mostly considered as the principal failure model in drilling of composite materials. Drill wear is a serious concern in hole-making industry, as it is necessary to prevent damage of cutting tools, machine tools and workpieces. The industrial experience shows the worn drill causes more delamination. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of delamination caused by the drill wear for twist drill in drilling carbon fiber-reinforced composite materials. The critical thrust force at the onset of delamination for worn drill is predicted and compared with that of ideal drill. The experimental results demonstrate that though the critical thrust force is higher with increasing wear ratio, the delamination becomes more liable to occur because the actual thrust force increases to larger extent, as the thrust factor (Z) illustrates. Compared to sharp drill, the worn twist drill allows for lower feed rate below which the delamination damage can be avoided.     

Analytical models of composite material drilling

Drilling of composite material structures is widely used for aeronautical assemblies. When drilling, damage to the composite laminate is directly related to the cutter geometry and the cutting conditions. Delamination of the composite materials at the hole exit as directly related to the axial force (F _Z) of the cutter is considered to be the major such defect. To address this issue, an orthotropic analytical model is developed in order to calculate the critical force of delamination during drilling and a number of hypotheses for loading are proposed. This critical axial load is related to the delamination conditions (propagation of cracks in the last layers) and the mechanical characteristics of the composite material machined. A numerical model is also drawn up to allow for numerical validation of the analytical approach. A comparison between these analytical and numerical modellings and experimental results from quasi-static punch tests led to the choice of the loading hypothesis closest to the experimental conditions. The selection of corresponding load permits to model the drilling critical thrust force on delamination and then to optimise the cutting conditions. The dimensions and geometrical shape of the cutter are of considerable importance when it comes to choosing this load. The present article focuses on the case of the twist drill, which is commonly used to drill thick plates. However, this work can be adapted to different cutter geometries.     

多元变参数振动钻削复合材料的研究

根据复合材料力学和线弹性断裂力学，假设钻削轴向力为一集中作用载荷，从而构造了正交纤维束增强复合材料的钻削分层临界力的数学模型，仿真结果表明，随着待钻削深度的减小，分层临界力急剧降低。基于这一特点，提出了多元变参数振动钻削纤维增强复合材料的新思路，并进行了实验验证。     

Delamination-free drilling of carbon fiber reinforced plastic with variable feed rate

A large number of drilling have been performed to assemble aircraft parts of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). Although high quality is required in machining the holes with high productivity in terms of reliability of parts, delamination often occurs around the holes in drilling. This paper presents a novel drilling method with variable feed rate to machine the delamination-free holes at a high machining rate. In the drilling, the holes are machined at the standard feed rates when the chisel moves in material; and are finished with the negative thrust at higher feed rates after the chisel exits from the workpiece. Orthogonal cutting tests were conducted to measure the cutting forces and the friction angles for the uncut chip thicknesses and the rake angles. The negative thrusts were measured in large uncut chip thicknesses at large rake angles of the lips. Then, the drilling tests were conducted to verify the change in the cutting force in the variable feed rate drilling up to 100 holes. Negative thrust component appears consistently to raise the workpiece up in the exit process even though the tool wear progresses with repeating drillings. As a result, the variable feed rate drilling remarkably controls delamination compared to the constant feed rate drilling in the 100th drilling. The cutting process in the variable feed rate drilling is compared with the constant feed rate drilling in a cutting force model based on the minimum cutting energy. The negative thrust is verified when the friction angle becomes smaller than the effective rake angle with increasing the feed rate.     

Drilling performance of functionally graded composite: Comparison with glass and carbon/epoxy composites

Functionally graded composite (FGC) materials are categorized as advanced materials that display different thermal and mechanical responses compared with well-known composites, such as carbon fiber or glass fiber-reinforced composites. This paper presents the experimental results for the drilling of three materials, namely glass/epoxy, carbon/epoxy, and FGC material. FGC was compared with carbon and glass/epoxy composites in terms of thrust force, delamination factor, diameter of hole, and roundness during drilling. This study illustrated that the drilling performance of FGC is considerably more complicated than that of more common composite materials, such as glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy. Delamination factor at the exit of hole during drilling of FGC was mainly affected by the material placed at the exit of the hole. The proposed cutting parameters and drill geometries to minimize the occurrence of delamination during drilling of carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy apparently does not meet the expectation in drilling FGC.     

Evaluation of a novel approach to a delamination factor after drilling composite laminates using a core–saw drill

Drilling is the most commonly applied method for hole making of fiber-reinforced materials owing to the need for structure joining. Delamination is the most common defect during drilling because of the heterogeneity of both the fibers and the matrix. The delamination, in general, is an irregular shape and size, containing long and fine breaks and cracks at the exit of the drilled hole, especially in the drilling of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). On the other hand, a core–saw drill is designed to reduce the threat of chip removal in drilling composite materials. Since the thrust force of core–saw drill is distributed toward the periphery, the core–saw drill allows a larger critical thrust force than the twist drill at the onset of delamination when drilling composite materials. The aim of this paper is to present a novel approach of the equivalent delamination factor (F _ed) to characterize drilling-induced delamination using a core–saw drill and compare it with the adjusted delamination factor (F _da) and the conventional delamination factor (F _a). The experimental results indicated that the F _ed obtained is considered suitable for characterizing delamination at the exit of a hole after drilling CFRP.     

Tool life evaluation of CFRP drilling with three kinds of drill

Serious tool wear in CFRP drilling is one of the key problems to be solved urgently. Firstly, a suitable indirect evaluation index of tool life is selected according to the literature. The critical delamination force was obtained by blind hole pushing experiment. Then, tool wear experiments were carried out with double point angle drill, stepped drill and reverse edge compound drill to analyze the variation rules of the thrust force, exit burr, exit delamination and tear with tool wear. Threshold values of exit delamination, tearing and critical thrust force were compared with each evaluation index one by one to study the causes of drills failure. The results indicated that the maximum tool wear position was the outer corner. Among the three types drills, the thrust force, delamination factor and burr angle of the reverse edge compound drill are smaller. The double point angle drill fails due to the excessive thrust force, while the stepped drill and the reverse edge compound drill fail due to the hole exit delamination exceeding the threshold. The number of drilled holes of the reverse edge compound drill is 100 % and 25 % higher than that of the double point angle drill and the stepped drill, respectively. Therefore, the reverse edge compound drill is suitable for drilling CFRP.

     

The influence of the cutting tool microgeometry on the machinability of hardened AISI 4140 steel

The aim of this work is to define the cutting conditions that allow the dry drilling of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy (CFRE) composite materials taking into consideration the quality of the drilled holes (the exit delamination factor and the cylindricity error) and the optimum combination of drilling parameters. A further aim is to use grey relational analysis to improve the quality of the drilled holes. The machining parameters were measured according to 3³ full factorial parameter designs (27 experiments with independent process variables). The experiments were carried out under various cutting parameters with different spindle speeds and feed rates. Drilling tests were done using WC carbide, high-speed steel (HSS), and TiN-coated carbide drills. The experiment design was accomplished by application of the statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results show that the thrust force is mainly influenced by the tool materials and the feed rate, which has a strong influence on the exit delamination factor. On the other hand, the spindle speed particularly affects the cylindricity error of the holes. Correlations were established between spindle speed/feed rate and the various machining parameters so as to optimize cutting conditions. These correlations were found by quadratic regression using response surface methodology (RSM). Finally, tests were carried out to check the concordance of experimental results.     

Prediction of thrust force of step drill in drilling composite material by Taguchi method and radial basis function network

Among material secondary machining, drilling is the most frequently applied factor to composites needing structure joining. Drill geometry is considered the most important factor that affects drill performance. A major concern in drilling of composite materials is the delamination that occurs in the exit as well as in the entrance planes. The delamination damage caused by the tool thrust is known as one of the major concerns during the drilling process. The thrust force of step drill with drilling parameters (step angle, stage ratio, feedrate and spindle speed) in drilling carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) laminates were experimentally investigated in this study. The experimental results indicate that the step angle, stage ratio, and feedrate are the most significant factors affecting the overall performance. The optimal combinations, such as A₂B₂C₁D₃ (i.e., step angle = 100 ° stage ratio = 0.4 mm/mm, feedrate = 0.01 mm/rev and spindle speed = 1,200 rpm), were used under the adopted drilling condition. An experimental approach to the prediction of thrust force produced by step drill using linear regression analysis of experiments and radial basis function network (RBFN) were proposed in this study. In the confirmation tests, RBFN (errors within 0.3%) has been shown to be a better predictive model than multi-variable linear regression analysis (errors within 28%) for quantitative prediction of drilling-induced thrust force in drilling of composite material.     

Étude analytique et expérimentale du perçage de plaques minces en carbone/époxy

Theoretical and experimental study of the drilling of thin carbon/epoxy plates. Drilling thin carbon/epoxy plates creates damages. The main damage is the delamination of the last laminate plies. This paper deals with the determination of the critical drilling force which is determined as a function of the location of the drill tip in the laminate. First, an analytic modelling and experimental procedure are presented and the study synthesis shows the interests and the limits of this modelling. Lastly, relation between trust force and cutting conditions is proposed.     

Drilling of woven glass fiber-reinforced plastic—an experimental and finite element study

Drilling in woven fiber-reinforced plastics is a well-known practice in modern-day manufacturing. The high fracture toughness of woven fiber-based composites over unidirectional counterparts is increasing demand in aviation and electronics industries. Hence, failure of these materials at harsh environments is a matter of concern. Very few numerical studies on drilling of these composites have been carried out; hence, the present scope may be considered as a trial de novo. Delamination was studied in the present work at different feed–speed combinations. Drilling responses were estimated using finite element as a numerical simulation tool. An equivalent elastic macromechanical model was assumed for the woven composite workpiece. A 3D drill bit was modeled using commercial CAD package Pro-Engineer and Ansys Autodyn was used as the solver environment. The simulation and validation experiments were carried out at planned feed–speed combinations. The effect of process parameters on exit and entry delamination is also documented. The thrust determined by finite element techniques showed good prediction with the experimental results.     

Measurement and analysis of thrust force in drilling of particle board (PB) composite panels

Particleboard is a wood based composite extensively used in wood working. Drilling is the most commonly used machining process in furniture industries. The surface characteristics and the damage free drilling are significantly influenced by the machining parameters. The thrust force developed during drilling play a major role in gaining the surface quality and minimizing the delamination tendency. The objective of this study is to measure and analyze the cutting conditions which influences the thrust force in drilling of particle board panels. The parameters considered are spindle speed, feed rate and point angle. The drilling experiments are performed based on Taguchi’s design of experiments and a response surface methodology (RSM) based mathematical model is developed to predict the influence of cutting parameters on thrust force. The results showed that high spindle speed with low feed rate combination minimizes the thrust force in drilling of pre-laminated particle board (PB) panels.     

平纹编织CFRP制孔分层形成机制的热-力学理论建模及试验分析

碳纤维增强复合材料(Carbon fiber reinforced plastics,CFRP)在航空航天领域获得了广泛应用，但由于各向异性和层间连接较差等特点，钻削过程中极易出现分层缺陷，严重影响构件的使用性能。为分析钻削温度对平纹编织CFRP制孔缺陷的影响机制，基于弹性地基梁理论、黏聚力学模型和热力学理论，建立了新钻型钻削平纹编织CFRP制孔分层形成的理论模型。结果表明：当新钻型多刃尖(Ⅲ)钻削孔边缘的最表层材料时，钻削温度达到最大值，对最终分层的形成最为关键；钻削温度和制孔分层随着主轴转速的增大而逐渐降低，随着进给速度的增大而逐渐升高。当纤维角度(θ)在0°/90°/180°/270°附近时，层间分层的临界轴向力达到最大值，分层相对较大，当纤维角度(θ)在45°/135°/225°/315°附近时，临界轴向力最小，分层并非极大。因此，临界力的大小只能反映产生分层缺陷的难易程度，不能决定分层的最终形状和大小。考虑温度影响时的制孔分层形态预测与试验观测基本吻合，而不考虑温度影响下所获得的预测值总体上偏小。此外，平纹编织CFRP分层形状基本呈近似圆形。     

Multi-objective optimization of oblique turning operations using finite element model and genetic algorithm

Multi-objective optimization of oblique turning operations while machining AISI H13 tool steel has been carried out using developed finite element (FE) model and multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA-II). The turning operation is optimized in terms of cutting force and temperature with constraints on required material removal rate and cutting power. The developed FE model is capable to simulate cutting forces, temperature and stress distributions, and chip morphology. The tool is modeled as a rigid body, whereas the workpiece is considered as elastic–thermoplastic with strain rate sensitivity and thermal softening effect. The effects of cutting speed, feed rate, rake angle, and inclination angle are modeled and compared with experimental findings. FE model is run with different parameters with central composite design used to develop a response surface model (RSM). The developed RSM is used as a solver for the MOGA-II. The optimal processing parameters are validated using FE model and experiments.     

C/E复合材料螺旋铣削制孔方法抑制缺陷产生的机理

传统钻削加工碳纤维/环氧树脂(Carbon/epoxy,C/E)复合材料时容易产生加工缺陷,而螺旋铣削作为一种新的制孔方法在航空材料的加工中逐渐受到关注。为分析螺旋铣削制孔方法抑制缺陷产生的机理,以传统钻削加工为参照,分别利用螺旋铣削及传统钻削两种方法对C/E复合材料进行制孔试验,并对螺旋铣削与传统钻削刀具的运动轨迹进行分析。在具有相同的加工效率及刀具切削速度的基础上,对两种加工方法的加工参数进行优化。进行制孔对比试验,并对制孔过程中的切削温度、切削力及加工质量进行检测与分析。结果表明,切削温度是影响C/E复合材料制孔质量的重要因素,且由于螺旋铣削制孔时的切削温度显著低于传统钻削制孔温度,因此螺旋铣削制孔质量明显优于传统钻削制孔质量。螺旋铣削制孔时的切削温度较传统钻削时降低69℃以上,降幅大于36%,因此有效避免了制孔出口处的撕裂及分层现象。     

Thrust force and delamination of core-saw drill during drilling of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)

Due to the inherent anisotropy and inhomogeneous nature of polymer-based composite materials, their cutting mechanism differs in many respects from conventional metallic materials. Amongst all machining operations, drilling using a twist drill is the most commonly applied method for generating holes for riveting and fastening structural assemblies. Most of the previous research correlates the drill geometry and feed rate to thrust force and delamination on the performance of a twist drill. The Taguchi method has been used to solve many engineering problems. In this investigation, drilling-induced thrust force and delamination by core-saw drill during drilling CFRP laminates were selected as quality character factors to optimize the drilling parameters to obtain the smaller-the-better characteristics. For thrust force and delamination quality character factors, the optimum conditions in drilling were also A₁B₁C₃, (i.e., diameter ratio = 0.55, feed rate = 8 mm/min and spindle speed = 1,200 rpm).     

Investigation on delamination morphology during drilling composite laminates

Drilling-induced delamination of composite materials is a key factor that affects the quality of subsequent machining. To investigate the developing process of delamination, experiments with different drilling depth are conducted. In order to observe the delamination of different cross-sections in radial direction of the hole, the grinding method is adopted. Three-dimensional morphology of delamination at the exit of hole is obtained. The regularity of delamination with the change of drilling depth is analyzed, and the existence of “hidden delamination zone” is obtained finally. Due to the rebound effect of hole diameter and the inverted cone of drill guide section, the “hidden delamination zone” will be generated under the condition that the edge of delamination area is compressed tightly again. The critical thrust force of delamination is also studied, and it is proved to be correct.     

Comparison between response surface methodology and radial basis function network for core-center drill in drilling composite materials

Drilling using twist drill is the most frequently used secondary machining for fiber-reinforced composite laminates and delamination is the most important concern during drilling. The drill design and drilling parameters associated with thrust distribution on the drilling-induced delamination are presented. The core-center drill has been found to be more advantageous than the core drill in reference and practice experiences. Response surface methodology (RSM) is a very practical, economical, and useful tool for the modeling and analysis of experimental results using polynomials as local approximations to the true input/output relationship. Due to the radial basis function network’s (RBFN) fast learning speed, simple structure, local tuning, and global generalization power, researchers in the field of manufacturing engineering have been using RBFN in nonlinear manufacturing studies. The present paper compares these two techniques using various drilling parameters (diameter ratio, feed rate, and spindle speed) to predict the thrust force for a core-center drill in drilling composite materials. The obtained results indicated that RBFN is a practical and an effective way for the evaluation of drilling-induced thrust force.     

Chipping minimization in drilling ceramic materials with rotary ultrasonic machining

Ultrasonic machining (USM) has been considered as a new cutting technology that does not rely on the conductance of the workpiece. USM presents no heating or electrochemical effects, with low surface damage and small residual stresses on workpiece material, such as glass, ceramics, and others; therefore, it is used to drill microholes in brittle materials. However, this process is very slow and tool wear dependent, so the entire process has low efficiency. Therefore, to increase microhole drilling productivity or hole quality, rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) is considered as a strong alternative to USM. RUM, which presents ultrasonic axial vibration with tool rotation, is an effective solution for improving cutting speed, precision, tool wear, and other machining responses beyond those of the USM. This study aims to reduce the microchipping or cracking at the exit of the hole, which inevitably occurs when brittle materials are drilled, with consideration of tool wear. To this end, response surface analysis and desirability functions are used for experimental optimization. The experimental results showed that the proposed RUM scheme is suitable for microhole drilling.     

Influence of tool material on dynamics of drilling of GFRP composites

Drilling trials have been carried out on glass Fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) with plain high speed steel (HSS), TiN coated HSS and tipped tungsten carbide drills. Most of the defects in drilling of composites are due to thrust force experienced by the workpiece. The parametric influence on cutting force was experimentally evaluated. The experimental results show that the defects toleranced drilling can be attained by proper selection of cutting parameters and tool material. This is substantiated by monitoring flank wear, hole shrinkage and acoustic emission during drilling.