Smart Drill System for Composite Structures

Drilling Process Design for Hybrid Structures of Polymer Composites over Titanium Alloy for Aerospace Applications.

This work aimed at determining the optimum drilling process design for hybrid structures of polymer composites over titanium alloy in order to reach the needed quality and cost effectiveness for the aerospace industry. A set of experiments were designed to investigate the effects of process variables on the required torques and thrust forces and quality of the drilled holes. Surface response methodology was used to analyze the results. Process maps were introduced based on the experimental results and the optimum conditions for producing quality holes. Evaluation of the presented approach for process design was conducted using carbon fiber reinforced epoxy (IM7/977-3) composites over 6Al-4V titanium alloy (AB1) structure. This has helped in confirming the effectiveness of the new approach and in exploring the global optimum drilling parameters for damage free production of aerospace hybrid structures.