Modeling and optimization of vibration-assisted drilling on positive feed drilling unit

Mainly used in aerospace industry, positive feed units are an alternative to manual drilling units and CNC machines. They have been recently assisted by vibration systems in order to improve the evacuation of chips under ribbon form while drilling. After a first introduction of the common issues while drilling multi-stacked material, a review of the different technologies of vibration systems will be presented. In a second part, a modeling of a forced–excited vibration system will be described. Experimental figures will be faced to theoretical results to evaluate the relevance of the vibration drilling strategy in terms of chip breaking. In a third part, we will introduce some ways to set up the optimal parameters of the vibration system.