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Machinability investigations on high-speed drilling of aluminum reinforced with silicon carbide metal matrix composites

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Abstract

In this work, the research efforts have been made to investigate the effect of important drilling parameters such as spindle speed and feed rate on effectiveness of process and quality of holes during drilling of difficult-to-machine Al/SiC metal matrix composite using diamond-coated cemented carbide tool. Thrust force, hole diameter, delamination factor, surface roughness, tool wear, and chip analysis of the drilled holes were investigated at different spindle speeds (3000–9000 rpm) as well as feed rates (0.05–0.2 mm/rev), respectively. The outcomes of this study reveal that thrust force varies directly with the feed rate, but inversely with the spindle speed. Both the hole diameter and the delamination factor shows a rough proportionality with the feed rate, although the rates of variation are slow at the high spindle speed combined with a high feed rate. Similarly, the hole surface roughness increases with the feed rate, while the moderate spindle speeds produce better surface roughness. Smaller chips were found for all spindle speed. Adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms are prominent on drill bit and drill wear occurs on both drill tip and secondary cutting edge. Drilling at moderate spindle speeds of 5000 rpm and 7000 rpm is the most suitable for the hole drilling in the Al/SiC metal matrix composites.

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Abbreviations

MMC:

Metal matrix composite

WEDM:

Wire cut electrical discharge machining

rpm:

Revolution per minute

mm/rev:

Millimeter per revolution

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

EDS:

Energy dispersive spectrometer

Fz:

Thrust force

n :

Spindle speed

f :

Feed rate

D max :

Maximum delamination diameter

D o :

Drill diameter

F d :

Delamination factor

Ra:

Surface roughness

BUE:

Built-up edge

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Girish Kumar Padhy and all others who helped and contributed in this work.

Funding

This work is financially supported by Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (ZR2018ZA0401).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Ch Asad Abbas, Chuanzhen Huang, Zhen Wang, Hanlian Liu & Hongtao Zhu

  2. Key Laboratory of High-efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Ch Asad Abbas, Chuanzhen Huang, Zhen Wang, Hanlian Liu & Hongtao Zhu

  3. National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Ch Asad Abbas, Chuanzhen Huang, Zhen Wang, Hanlian Liu & Hongtao Zhu

  4. School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Jun Wang

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  1. Ch Asad Abbas
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  2. Chuanzhen Huang
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  3. Jun Wang
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Correspondence to Chuanzhen Huang.

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Abbas, C.A., Huang, C., Wang, J. et al. Machinability investigations on high-speed drilling of aluminum reinforced with silicon carbide metal matrix composites. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 108, 1601–1611 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-05409-4

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