Preliminary investigation of drilling thick carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite (CFRP)

Carbon fibre reinforced polymer or CFRP composite is the most sort-after material for aircraft manufacturing today and the hole defects are inevitable in drilling. Experiments were conducted to identify the effect of machining parameters on key output measures, which is not presented so far for drilling thick CFRP. Results showed that delamination and other damages significantly occurred. Feed rate plays a vital role in reducing the damage in mechanical drilling, whereas laser drilling strategy is essential for the penetration of laser beam. The results were useful to explain the relationships between machining parameters related to mechanical/laser drilling and cut quality.