Title: A study of drilling uni-directional carbon/epoxy composites

Authors: H. Gao, Y.J. Bao, Z.M. Feng

Addresses: Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. ' Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. ' Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, Shenyang 110507, China

Abstract: A study of drilling uni-directional carbon/epoxy (C/E) composite, a difficult-to-machine material, has been carried out to reveal the formation mechanism of drilling-induced surface damages. A theoretical analysis is reported, which shows that the drilling damages mostly occur in the areas where the fibre orientation angle is in the range of 0°-90°, especially in the vicinity of 6°. To minimise the damages, drilling tools with electroplated diamond abrasives are used to drill the C/E composite. Experimental results with these drills show that the thrust force decreased by 30%-50% while drilling damages at the exit side are also significantly reduced when comparing to drilling with traditional carbide twist drills.

Keywords: cabon-epoxy composites; surface damage; fibre orientation; grinding; thrust force; fly milling; drilling tools; electroplated diamond abrasives; formation mechanism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2011.039000

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2011 Vol.4 No.1, pp.1 - 13

Published online: 27 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article