A novel method for improving drilling performance of CFRP/Ti6AL4V stacked materials

In the aviation and structural industries, the requirement of smooth holes is an important safety problem. Since holes are a part of the joints made with fasteners, they affect the fatigue strength of the structure. Therefore, it is necessary to be very selective in terms of cutting parameters and cutting tools, especially in drilling metal/composite or composite/metal stacked materials. In this context, cutting conditions in conventional machining methods should be optimized or novel machining methods should be applied. In this context, this study minimized the limitations in machining of carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRP)/Ti6Al4V alloy stack material and the delamination problem that occurs especially in composite laminates. For this purpose, cutting conditions have been optimized for each of CFRP/Ti6Al4V alloy material, depending on the thrust force (Fz), surface roughness (Ra), and delamination factor (Fd) obtained by preliminary tests. The drilling tests were performed at the cutting speed of 60 m/min, the feed rate of 0.05 mm/rev for CFRP material, the cutting speed of 15 m/min, and the feed rate 0.05 mm/rev for Ti6Al4V material. The novel method for this study is that the tool was kept in the air for 1 min after each 4 mm drilling of Ti6Al4V alloy to cool the tool during the rebounds to the safe approach distance. Finally, according to the optimized cutting parameters, Fz, Ra, and Fd were assessed to evaluate the performances of cutting tools in the drilling of CFRP/Ti6Al4V stacked material. According to the experimental results and images of the digital camera and SEM device, flank wear and cracking as the wear type in the U-WC tool; flank wear, cracking, and BUE as the wear type in the TiAlN-coated tools; and outer corner wear and coating removal in diamond-coated tools. Moreover, when the tool performance is evaluated according to the cutting tool tip angle, the highest amount of wear was seen in cutting tools with 140 degrees point angle.

Automated summary

In the aviation and structural industries, the requirement for smooth holes is a critical safety issue, as the quality of holes can affect the fatigue strength of structures. This study successfully minimized limitations in the machining of carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRP)/Ti6Al4V alloy stack material and addressed the delamination problem that may occur in composite laminates by optimizing cutting conditions and selecting appropriate cutting tools.