Process Forces Analysis and a New Feed Control Strategy for Drilling of Unidirectional Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (UD-CFRP)

Reliable machining of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) is the key for application of these lightweight materials. Due to its anisotropy, CFRP is a very difficult material to machine because of occurring delamination and fiber-pullouts. The tool design is especially crucial to minimize and to avoid these processing errors. In this paper a process analysis for drilling is shown for better understanding of the chip formation. Drilling of unidirectional CFRP enables the investigation of the effect of fiber orientation on the chip formation process. In theory, the amount of cut fibers and the cutting angle to the main cutting edge determine the cutting force. Experimental tests with varied macroscopic drill geometries verify this theory. Based on these detected relationships, the tool loads can be calculated for a successful tool design.