Computerized tomography and C-Scan for measuring delamination in the drilling of composite materials using various drills

Whilst drilling is the most frequently employed operation of secondary machining for structure joining, delamination is a very serious defect during drilling of fiber-reinforced composite materials,. The evaluation of the delamination damage in the material is important but rather difficult, particularly for carbon fiber-based composites, because their colour makes visual inspection difficult. A special technique using medical equipment for computerized tomography is presented in this paper. It is compared to techniques using ultrasonic and is demonstrated as a feasible and an effective tool for the evaluation of drilling-induced delamination. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.