Backup support technique towards damage-free drilling of composite materials: A review

Abstract

Drilling of composite materials is a common manufacturing process which is widely used in various applications such as aircraft and automobile assemblies. Usually, drilling of composite materials is very challenging because of their high strength, non-homogeneous and anisotropic properties. Several undesirable failures such as deflection of workpiece, delamination and burr formation occur at exit side of machined surface due to lack of support under workpiece while drilling of the material. Therefore, it is necessary to develop cost-effective techniques to suppress drilling damages. The backup support technique is an important approach to prevent damages while machining at various machining parameters, tool geometries and with other machining strategies. This review paper summarizes the principle of the technique and its effectiveness on various composites towards suppressing material damages. The backup methods are categorized under active backup force, passive backup support, stack acts as backup and fabricated backing support technique. The above methods are reviewed with respect to tool geometry/material, drilling parameters and other machining strategies to bring out the importance of backup support and its influence on quality of machined surface.

Keywords

• Backup support
• Burr removal
• Delamination