Characterization of the Surface Quality of Holes Drilled in CFRP Laminates

Abstract

Assembling composite structures requires a significant number of drillings. During machining, defects appear on the surface of the drilled hole. This paper outlines that the criterion Ra is not adapted to reliably characterize the surface quality on composites. In particular, various tests have shown significant variations of the value of Ra according to the angular position of measurement, as well as the filtering artefacts. This study puts forward a new methodology to characterize the surface quality of a composite hole. To this end, a study of sensitivity of the various criteria proposed by standard ISO4287 was conducted. Various geometries of tool are also tested in the experimental phase. The impact of cutting parameters and tool wear are analyzed based on this new methodology.