CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cirpj

Helical milling of CFRPtitanium layer compounds

B. Denkena *, D. Boehnke, J.H. Dege
t t Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools, Leibniz Universita Hannover, An der Universita 2, 30823 Garbsen, Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Available online 12 November 2008 Keywords: Helical milling Orbital milling Titanium CFRP Compounds

Helical milling is used to generate boreholes by means of a milling tool being operated on a helical path into the workpiece. The bore diameter can be adjusted through the diameter of the helical path. In comparison to conventional drilling operations this process often results in lower burr formation and ber delamination. Therefore helical milling is used in the aircraft industry for cutting composites and composite-metal compounds. One of these compounds, which is regarded as difcult to machine, is a layer compound consisting of unidirectional carbon ber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and TiAl6V4. This paper presents the impact of the axial and tangential feed during helical milling on process forces and borehole quality is shown. 2008 CIRP.

1. Introduction Due to their high strength-to-weight ratio carbon ber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are highly attractive for use in the aircraft industry. They allow a weight reduction and thus decrease the fuel consumption or increase the payload. Beneath the application of lightweight materials a lightweight design can also reduce the mass of components. A special form of this design is the construction of layer stack-ups with materials with very different properties. In a wide range of applications dissimilar material stack-ups of CFRP, aluminum and titanium are used for high performance structural components. In order to assemble these parts, it is necessary to apply holes for various purposes such as bolt and rivet holes [1]. An alternative to drilling these compounds with common twist drills is helical milling. Here, a milling tool rotates on a helical path and generates the borehole. The kinematics of this process allows drilling holes with different diameters independently of the tool diameter and without changing the tool. More advantages of helical milling are: low burr formation, little delamination in CFRP, low process forces as well as good chip transportation [26]. The combination of titanium with CFRP has the following advantages over stack-ups made of aluminum and CFRP: similar thermal expansion, reduced galvanic corrosion issue and higher specic strength [7]. In contrast machining of TiCFRP composites introduces a unique set of problems. Apart from high tool wear and ber delamination, diameter tolerances caused by the different

material properties of the layers often reduce the bore hole quality during helical milling [8,9]. Hence the inuence of the axial and tangential feed on the bore hole diameter during helical milling is investigated in this paper. 2. Kinematics of helical milling The considerable difference between the drilling and the helical milling process results from the kinematical conditions. In drilling operations the bore diameter is determined by the tool diameter. In contrast to this, in helical milling the bore diameter is determined by the tool diameter in combination with the diameter of the helical path (Fig. 1). This leads to a high exibility concerning the bore diameter. To use this kinematic on a three axis machine tool the feed velocity of the tool center point vf and the depth per helical rotation a or the helix angle a have to be calculated. The input p parameters for these calculations are the axial feed per tooth fza, the tangential feed per tooth fzt, the diameter of the bore DB and the helical path Dh, the rotational speed n and the number of teeth of the end mill z. To determine the feed velocity of the tool center point vf it is necessary to calculate the axial feed velocity of the helix vfha , the tangential feed velocity of the cutting edge vft and the tangential feed velocity of the helix vfht at rst. The equations are summarized in Fig. 2. During helical milling the tool center point (TCP) describes in general a movement on a small diameter (Dh). If this movement is realized by the interpolation of two linear axes the demands on the feed drive acceleration and the rigidity and stiffness of the machine tool are very high. A lack of these requirement can result in deviations of the bore hole diameter and roundness.

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: dege@ifw.uni-hannover.de (B. Denkena). 1755-5817/$ see front matter 2008 CIRP. doi:10.1016/j.cirpj.2008.09.009

B. Denkena et al. / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469

65

Fig. 1. Kinematics of helical milling.

Fig. 2. Calculation of relevant parameters for the helical milling process.

3. Undeformed chip geometry during helical milling processes The helical milling process consists of a peripheral face milling part with a discontinuous cut on the radial cutting edge and a drilling part with a continuous cut on the axial cutting edge at the

same time. Regarding the radial cutting edge the axial depth of cut ap increases approximately linearly with the tool rotation angle w and reaches a maximum of a . The undeformed chip thickness htan p shows a sinusoidal behaviour over the tool rotation angle w with a maximum of the tangential feed per tooth fzt. The resulting

Fig. 3. Dimensions of the undeformed chip.

66

B. Denkena et al. / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469

Fig. 4. Form of the undeformed chip.

Fig. 5. Chip formation during the helical milling process.

complex form of the undeformed chip leads to a discontinuous cut. On the axial cutting edge the cross section of the undeformed chip remains constant over the tool rotation angle w as in drilling operations. In axial direction the undeformed chip thickness hax is equivalent to the axial feed per tooth fza while the undeformed chip width bax equals half the tool diameter DWz. Fig. 3 shows the undeformed chip parameters in dependence of the tool rotation angle for an example process. Fig. 4 shows an example of the geometry of the undeformed chip calculated by the parameters given in Fig. 3 after a tool rotation angle of w = 1808. While the volume marked in red is cut continuously, the volume marked in blue and green is removed by a discontinuous cut. A further tool rotation by w = 1808 causes a constant removal of the continuously cut chip without any discontinuously cut part. The complex geometry of the undeformed chip is, the diameter of bore and tool apart, mainly inuenced by the axial and tangential feed per tooth and the resulting depth per helical rotation. The superposition of continuous and discontinuous cut during the helical milling process results in two chip formation

mechanisms. On the one hand long chips form continuously at the axial cutting edge (Fig. 5). They show a fanfold surface and could cause problems with chip removal. On the other hand the chips generated discontinuously at the radial cutting edge are very small. Due to the differing ow direction during chip formation the two chip types are separated. 4. Experimental setup The helical milling operations have been carried out on a four axis Heller MC16 machine tool in dry machining conditions, since wet conditions can negatively affect the material properties of the composite. The CFRP chips are removed in process via a vacuum dust removal system. During the process the forces are measured with a Kistler 9257B dynamometer. Since the dynamometer measures the process forces in the workpiece coordinate system (Fx, Fy) it is necessary to transform the forces into the tool coordinate system (Ff, FfN). Therefore, the spindle position is recorded by a Polytec 303 laser vibrometer and the force data is transformed via a rotational matrix, depending on the spindle

Fig. 6. Buildup of the CFRP-Ti layer compound.

B. Denkena et al. / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469

67

position, into feed force Ff and feed normal force FfN. The bore hole diameter in the layer compounds is measured with a Leitz PMM 866 3D coordinate measuring machine. Every material layer in each hole is measured in four planes at different heights. The bore holes with a diameter of DB = 10 mm are helical milled with TiAlN coated solid carbide end mills featuring three teeth, an overall length of lOA = 65 mm, an cutting edge length of lCE = 22 mm, a diameter of DWz = 8 mm, a helix angle of d = 458, a clearance angle of a = 208 and a rake angle of g = 98. The tools are changed after the slightest appearance of tool wear to exclude the inuence of the wear. The axial feed per tooth is varied in a range from fza = 212 mm whereas the tangential feed is ranged between fzt = 40120 mm. All cutting tests have been carried out at a constant cutting speed of vc 40 m=min and are repeated two times. For tool retraction after the helical milling process, the path of the tool center point describes half circle to the bore hole center and then retracts on a linear path out of the bore hole. Fig. 6 shows the machined compound consisting of a bimodal titanium alloy (TiAl6V4) layer and an unidirectional, quasiisotropic CFRP layer. All holes are milled from the CFRP layer into the titanium layer. 5. Impact of the feed on process forces and borehole quality Fig. 7 shows the inuence of the axial feed fza and the tangential feed fzt per tooth on the feed force Ff, the feed normal force FfN and the axial force Fa in the titanium and the CFRP layer. The corresponding geometries of the undeformed chips are illustrated schematically below the diagrams. An increase in the axial feed at a constant tangential feed of fzt = 60 mm leads to an increased pitch of the helical tool path. This results in a rising height of the undeformed chip and, regarding the titanium layer, thus in higher feed and feed normal forces. An increase in the tangential feed per tooth fzt at a constant axial feed of fza = 6 mm causes, unlike the axial feed, a reduction of the height of the undeformed chip, which leads to decreasing feed and feed normal forces. The axial force remains nearly constant over the axial and tangential feed per

tooth. The process forces in the CFRP layer are signicantly lower in comparison to the titanium layer due to the material properties. That is why the scale of the Y-axis differs from the previous diagram. Similar to the titanium layer, the feed and feed normal forces in the CFRP layer increase with increasing axial feed per tooth fza and decrease with a rise of the tangential feed per tooth fzt. The axial force is not considerably inuenced by the axial and tangential feed. In contrast to the titanium layer the level of the axial force in the CFRP layer is far above the feed and feed normal forces. This behaviour can be explained by an unfavourable chip formation and increased friction on the axial ank face due to an axial feed per tooth fza which is in the same range of the ber diameter of df = 7 mm. A main aspect concerning workpiece quality is the precision of the bore diameter. In order to produce bore holes within a predicted diameter tolerance, the diameter difference at the transition between the two material layers has to be studied carefully. Fig. 8 shows the mean diameter of each layer over the axial feed fza and the tangential feed fzt per tooth. Independent from the feed rates the bore hole diameter in the CFRP layer is always higher than in the titanium layer. An increase in the axial feed per tooth accompanied by higher process forces leads to a reduction of the bore diameter in the CFRP layer as well as in the titanium layer. On the other hand a gain in the tangential feed per tooth with decreasing process forces results in higher bore diameters in both materials. This behaviour is mainly caused by a tool deection due to the occurring feed normal forces. The feed normal forces act on the tool center point and deect it in the direction of the bore hole center point. Hence the actual diameter is machined instead of the programmed target diameter. The diagram on the right side of Fig. 9 shows the bore diameter over the feed normal force FfN for the CFRP and the titanium layer. In both materials a nearly linear interrelation between feed normal forces and bore hole diameter is visible. This leads to the conclusion that the tool deection is the main factor of the diameter deviations.

Fig. 7. Process forces in the titanium and the CFRP layer in dependence on the axial and tangential feed per tooth.

68

B. Denkena et al. / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469

Fig. 8. Bore diameter in the CFRP-Ti compound in dependence of the feed.

Fig. 9. Impact of the process forces on the bore diameter.

However, it is not the only one, since otherwise both best t lines would be identical. Possible factors inuencing the diameter deviations may be the different Youngs moduli of titanium and CFRP as well as deviations in the surface roughness caused by the material specic chip formation mechanisms. These points will be analyzed in further investigations. 6. Conclusion and outlook This paper presents the modelled undeformed chip geometries for the process helical milling. This knowledge is used to explain the impact of the axial and tangential feed per tooth on the process forces. The interrelation between process forces and bore diameter could be veried. During helical milling the combination of axial feed per tooth fza and tangential feed per tooth fzt has a strong inuence on the appearance of the undeformed chip. High tangential feeds at a constant axial feed and low axial feeds at a constant tangential feed result in at undeformed chip geometries. These generate low feed and feed normal forces leading to small tool deections and low diameter deviations (Fig. 9). In future the inuence of the Youngs moduli of the workpiece and the surface roughness on the diameter deviations have to be further investigated. At the same time the inuence of the tool macrogeometry on process forces and bore hole quality is to be

researched with the aim to reduce the diameter difference at the transition between the CFRP and the titanium layer. Acknowledgement We would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the nancial support within the project Herstellung, Bearbeitung und Qualizierung hybrider Werkstoffsysteme (GRK 1378/1).

References
[1] Brinksmeier, E., Fangmann, S., Walter, A., 2007, High Speed Machining of Multilayer Composite Materials by Orbital Drilling, in: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on High Speed Machining 2007 (San Sebastian), . [2] Denkena, B., Dege, J., 2007, Zirkularfrasen von Schichtverbunden aus CFK, Titan und Aluminium, Seminar Neue Fertigungstechnologien in der Luft- und Raumfahrt (Hannover), . [3] Engbert, T., Kempmann, C., Zabel, A., 2007, Qualitatsgerechte Bohrungsferti gung - Bearbeitung von Leichtbauwerkstoffen durch Zirkularfrasen, Intelligenter Produzieren, 2007/3, VDMA Verlag. [4] Weinert, K., Kempmann, C., 2005, Comparing Drilling and Circular Milling for the Drill Hole Manufacture of Fiber Reinforced Composites, Production Engineering Research and Development, 12/2: 14. [5] Weinert, K., Kempmann, C., 2005, Bohren oder Frasen - das ist hier die Frage. Vergleich der Bohr- und Zirkularbearbeitung an gewebeverstarkten Kunststoffen, Technica, 54/5: 1619.

B. Denkena et al. / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 1 (2008) 6469 [6] Janssen, R., 2003, Bohren und Zirkularfrasen von Schichtverbunden aus Aluminium, CFK und Titanlegierungen, PHD Thesis, Bremen. [7] Watts, M., November 30, 2006, New Aerospace Designs Challenge High Performance Machining, Presentation Hannover Kolloquium.

69

sen von Al-CFK[8] Denkena, B., Becker, J.C., Boehnke, D., 2003, Bohren und Zirkularfra Verbunden, Congress Intelligente Leichtbau Systeme 2003 (Hannover), pp.15. [9] Gey, C., 2002, Prozessauslegung fur das Flankenfrasen von Titan, Dr.-Ing, Thesis, Universitat Hannover.