Title: Study of the local forces along a cutting edge when drilling Ti6Al4V - comparison of methods

Authors: Antoine Poutord; Frédéric Rossi; Gérard Poulachon; Rachid M'Saoubi; Guillaume Abrivard

Addresses: Arts et Metiers ParisTech, LaBoMaP, Rue porte de Paris 71250 Cluny, France ' Arts et Metiers ParisTech, LaBoMaP, Rue porte de Paris 71250 Cluny, France ' Arts et Metiers ParisTech, LaBoMaP, Rue porte de Paris 71250 Cluny, France ' Seco Tools (UK) Ltd., Alcester, Warwickshire, UK ' Airbus Group Innovations, Centre Technocampus EMC2, Chemin du Chaffault, 44340 Bouguenais, France

Abstract: In aerospace applications, drilling is one of the most common operations. However, this machining stays complex and expensive, especially for difficult-to-cut materials such as titanium alloys. Because drilling is a blind operation, the physical measurements in-situ or the observation of phenomena close to the cutting edge is hard to observe. This study focuses on two different methods allowing the evaluation of the local forces along the main cutting edge. The first method is based on a physical decomposition of the drill edge. The global forces are measured when drilling samples with various external diameters: 1) smaller or larger than the drill diameter; 2) with or without pilot hole. The forces measurement for each sample lead to the determination of the elementary forces along the cutting edge and the margin. The second method decomposes the forces during the progressive drill point entry in the work material. On each Z level, the drill edge engagement is geometrically determined, allowing the knowledge of the elementary forces applied along the cutting edge and the margin.

Keywords: local forces; Ti6Al4V drilling; cutting edge; aerospace applications; titanium alloys; drilling force; drill edge engagement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2016.078976

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2016 Vol.18 No.5/6, pp.621 - 633

Received: 22 Dec 2014
Accepted: 26 Jul 2015

Published online: 08 Sep 2016 *

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