Title: Drilling of composite and titanium stacks with alternating machining parameters by PCD drill

Authors: Hang Gao; Xuanlong Zhang

Addresses: Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning 116023, China. ' Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning 116023, China

Abstract: Drilling of multilayer materials with conventional machining parameters are selected in such a way that it suits the requirements of both composite and metal, which is already unsuitable for machining high holes quality due to differential mechanical and thermal properties of stacks. The present study attempts a newer research on drilling of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) and titanium stacks with alternating machining parameters by PCD drill in order to minimise the delamination of CFRP and burrs in titanium alloy. Results show that drilled holes quality can be improved by optimising the drilling parameters for each material. It was found that PCD drill outperformed better in drilling CFRP-titanium stacks for its high hot hardness and wear resistance. From the 25th to 50th hole, the thrust force of CFRP laminates is stable of 60±5 N owing to normal wear stage. This region is ideal for the drilling performance of PCD drill.

Keywords: alternating machining parameters; carbon fibre reinforced plastics; CFRP; delamination; multilayer materials; polycrystalline diamond; PCD drilling; thrust force; titanium alloys; burrs; hole quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2011.043087

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2011 Vol.10 No.4, pp.280 - 292

Received: 09 Jul 2010
Accepted: 13 Sep 2010
Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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