Energy Based Investigation of Process Parameters while Drilling Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are widely used in the aerospace industry due to their light weight, high strength, and low thermal conductivity. Drilling is a critical process that affects the quality of CFRP parts. This work studies the influence of process parameters on delamination and tool wear. Polycrystalline diamond helical drills are used in the experiments. It has been shown that drilling energy calculations can be used to set appropriate feed and speed parameters and for increasing drilling performance of CFRPs. The results also indicate the importance of thermal modeling of CFRP laminate for better understanding of the drilling process. © 2016 The Authors