Comprehensive review of drilling strategies for CFRP/Ti s tacks in aircraft manufacturing

Abstract

Single-shot drilling of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer/titanium alloy stacks in aerospace applications poses unique challenges. The interaction between the cutting tool and the composite- metal contact often leads to poor hole quality and increased tool wear. The review extensively examines research achieve ments and developments in drilling CFRP/Ti stacks to compre hensively assess the impact of various machining settings on hole quality. Contributing factors such as stack-up machining thrust force, temperature, chip form and tool wear characteris tics are thoroughly investigated. Moreover, this article high lights manufacturing defects in metallic and composite panels during drilling operations, contributing to a higher rejection rate in the assembly process. Usually, the maximum delamin ation of 1mm, diameter deviation of ±30mm, burr height of 150mm, metal part’s surface roughness of 1.6mm and CFRP part’s surface roughness of 3.2mm are allowed in the aero space industry. Additionally, the research explores strategies to mitigate manufacturing defects, including measures to limit hole and tool damage. These tactics encompass tool structure, machining environment, machining parameters and machin ing technology. On the whole, this review study aims to fill the research gap regarding process enhancement and per formance evaluation of single-shot drilling of CFRP/Ti stacks in aerospace applications.