Precision Drilling of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics with Ball Nose End Mills

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) is well known as a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) is well known as a difficult-to-cut material that has very strong physical and mechanical characteristics. Drilling technique of CFRP that is one of the most important cutting operations is currently carried out in the aviation and automotive industries, among others. Parts manufactured from CFRP have many precision holes used as rivet holes and for various purposes. There are typicaly many problems involved in the precision drilling processes of CFRP plate such as burrs, chippings and delaminations of composite materials, and the rapid wear of the drilling tools. In this research study, various twist drill bits, square end mills and ball noses end mills made of materials including cemented-carbide, TiAlN PVD-coated cemented carbide, Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated cemented carbide and high-speed steel, are tested. CFRP drilling tests without coolant are carried out on vertical machining centers. It is found that the ball nose end mill is the most suitable for drilling CFRP composite materials.