Loughborough University
Browse

Ultrasonically-assisted drilling of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics

Download (5.54 MB)
thesis
posted on 2014-06-02, 14:45 authored by Farrukh Makhdum
Carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) are widely used in aerospace, automobile and other structural applications due to their superior mechanical and physical properties. CFRP outperform conventional metals in high strength-to-weight ratio. Usually, CFRP parts are manufactured near to net-shape;however,machining is unavoidable when it comes to assembly. Drilling the holes are essential to facilitate riveting and bolting of the components. However, conventional drilling (CD) induces different types of damages such as cracking, fibre pull-out, sprintling and delamination due to the abrasive nature, inhomogeneity and anisotropy of CFRP. A novel technique, ultrasonically-assisted drilling (UAD) is hybrid machining technique in which highfrequency (typically above 20 kHz) vibration are superimposed on a standard twist drill bit in axial direction using ultrasonic transducer. UAD has shown several advantages such as thrust force reduction, improving surface quality and lower bur-formation in drilling of conventional metals. UAD has also effectively been used for drilling brittle materials. [Continues.]

Funding

Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Publisher

© Farrukh Makhdum

Publication date

2014

Notes

A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.