Assessment of Surface Integrity and Dust While Drilling of GLARE® FMLs

Abstract

Fiber-metal laminates represent a promising type of hybrid material, resulting from the combination of a metal, usually an aluminum alloy, and a fiber-reinforced composite, such as a glass-fiber reinforced epoxy. Currently, GLARE (a fiberglass/aluminum composite) is used by many aerospace manufacturers for primary aircraft components. Few researchers have investigated this type of hybrid material in terms of cutting effort and hole quality, but none have studied the impact of machining on operator health. The present work aims to investigate the effects of input cutting parameters and the tool coating when drilling multi-material type GLARE® on finish roughness and generation of aerosol dust particles. The drilling tests were carried out using uncoated tools and coated ones with a thin film of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and Cristal. After drilling operations, obtained results reveal that DLC coated tools induced less roughness when compared to uncoated ones or Cristal coated drill. In addition, dust particle number generated while tests conducting, is affected by input cutting parameters. A lower speed of spindle promotes the diminution of the quantity of particles in the workplace compared to that recorded at higher speed of the spindle.