Tool wear monitoring and hole surface quality during CFRP drilling

The present investigation focuses on the evaluation of tool wear and surface integrity in the context of CFRP cutting. Series of drilling experiments were performed on CFRP plates using cemented carbide solid drills with the aim to investigate correlations between tool damage, cutting forces, temperature and hole surface quality. In particular, a new methodology has been developed to measure the drilling temperature and to assess the quality of the hole surfaces where occurred uncut fibers. As the surface roughness criterion is not relevant for such work materials, a discussion on the definition of the surface topography is proposed for CFRP work material. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.