Experimental-Comparative Investigation of the Effects of Various Process Parameters on Drilling CFRP

摘要

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) materials have superior properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio, elasticity and corrosion resistance which makes them highly preferred materials, especially in aerospace structures. Despite drastic increase in applications of CFRP, the machining processes of this material have been troublesome due to several reasons such as the variety of material configurations, their non-homogeneous mechanical properties and abrasive nature of their fibers. Typical and common CFRP machining problems are: defects formed on work piece such as delaminations, unconformities of dimensional tolerances and poor cutting tool life. In addition to the challenge of manufacturing a defect free part, potential quality issues may differ from one material to another even if the cutting conditions are same. Therefore; presenting effects of the fundamental process parameters such as work piece material, cutting tool configuration (i.e. geometry and material) and cutting parameters is extremely crucial so as to eliminate or minimize these problems and to define efficient CFRP machining strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of process parameters on cutting forces, hole tolerances and defect formation through experimental and comparative approach. In this paper; polycrystalline diamond (PCD), diamond coated carbide and uncoated carbide drills with several geometries are used in standard modulus 5-Harness satin woven CFRP epoxy system.