Mechanical load distribution along the main cutting edges in drilling

Used in a very large variety of applications, drilling is one of the most complex manufacturing processes. Most of the research on drilling was done in the field of metal cutting since, in this case, high precision and quality are needed. The use of composite materials in engineering applications has increased in recent years, and in many of these applications drilling is one of the most critical stages in the manufacturing process. Delamination and extensive tool wear, affecting the quality and the costs, are among the problems which drilling of composite materials are currently facing. Understanding and predicting the cutting forces occurring during drilling of such materials would allow extending the currently used optimization methods and proposing new tool geometries and tool materials. The current paper introduces a new mechanistic model for predicting the cutting force distribution along the cutting edges of a drill. A simple, generic and effective method is proposed to relate drilling to oblique cutting using a direction cosine transformation matrix valid for any drill geometry. The oblique cutting model used considers forces on both rake and relief faces, and a simple system of empirical coefficients (their number is significantly less than other similar models). The empirical coefficients are calculated assuming the work-piece material is isotropic. The model is validated on experiments carried out on carbon-fiber and glass-fiber reinforced composites using two different drill types (tapered drill reamer and 2-facet twist drill), which are described in more detail in a previous published paper. The mathematical expression of the drill geometry is also reviewed; removing certain assumption, generalizing some definitions and introducing new drill geometry and features.

Cutting Force Modelling for Drilling of Fiber-Reinforced Composites

Mihai-Bogdan Lazar

Although used in a very large variety of applications, drilling is one of the most complex and least understood manufacturing processes. Most of the research on drilling was done in the field of metal cutting for mechanical parts since, in this case, high precision and quality are needed. The use of composite materials in engineering applications has increased in recent years, and in many of these applications drilling is one of the most critical stages in the manufacturing process. This is because it is among the last operations in the manufacturing plan of composite parts. Delamination and extensive tool wear are among the problems which drilling of composite materials are currently facing. A major difference between metallic and composite plates is their structure: isotropic for metals and anisotropic for composite materials; meaning that while for metallic materials all the structure will respond in a similar manner under the machining loads, the composite structure will have localized responses from the same loads, leading to defects in the internal structure of the remaining work-piece material (i.e. delamination). Delamination can lead to failure in use and parts with such defects are usually discarded. Delamination is not usually visually detectable and special testing is necessary, affecting the costs of the final parts. Delamination during drilling was found to occur at tool entry (peel-up) or tool exit (push-out) and depends on the loads at inter-laminar level. The work presented in the current thesis focuses in providing reliable information about the thrust and torque distribution along the drill radius (and work-piece thickness) during drilling for varying cutting parameters, drill geometry and work-piece material. Such data should assist in the development of delamination models capable of capturing the influence of the drill geometry and cutting parameters on delamination onset and propagation during both exit and entry of the drill in the work-piece. A cutting force model is proposed to obtain the elementary cutting force distribution along the drill radius which is able to account for changes in axial feed rate and drill geometry. Based on oblique cutting, forces are considered on both rake and relief faces. A generic relationship in the form of a transformation matrix is developed to relate oblique cutting to drilling, valid for any drill geometry. The mathematical description of the drill geometry in the scope of cutting force modeling has been revised. The kinematics of the drilling process is now taken into account for (i) all geometrical parameters of the drill and for (ii) the elementary cutting forces decomposition. Additionally, a new drill type and its geometric features have been described mathematically and the definition of the geometrical parameters has been generalized so that other drills types or variations could be easily implemented into the model. It proved therefore possible to adopt simpler expressions for the empirical force coefficients of the cutting force model. Up to four empirical coefficients are used, which are calculated from experiments for each work-piece material and drill type. Most experimental investigations on drilling fiber reinforced composites analyze only the total thrust and torque generated during drilling or separately the forces caused by the chisel edge and cutting lips by drilling with or without a pilot hole. The later type of analysis suggested that is possible to obtain more detailed information about the distribution of the loads in drilling from the analysis of the forces variation during tool entry into the work-piece. Pursuing this direction, an experimental analysis method is proposed to obtain the axial and tangential elementary cutting force distribution along the tool radius or work-piece thickness. The cutting force distribution obtained experimentally was used to calibrate the cutting force model, rather than the total thrust and torque. The experimentally obtained cutting force distribution can also be used alone for analyzing the drilling process (i.e. the loads distribution among the plies of the composite laminate and how this load is influenced by changes in the drill geometry and the cutting conditions).

EPFL2012

Load history effects in fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials

Abdolvahid Movahedirad

Today, it is widely accepted that fatigue is one of the most common failure mechanisms in structural components, and pure static failure is rarely observed. Engineering structures are subjected to complex mechanical fatigue loading histories, which cause damage that eventually leads to functional and structural deterioration. One reason for this complexity is that the cyclic loading is accompanied by time-dependent deformations including creep and recovery. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials are susceptible to time-dependent deformation, due to the viscoelastic nature of their matrix. Therefore, fatigue-creep-recovery interactions can play a role in the overall deformation behavior of FRP composite materials. The limited experimental investigations of FRP composite materials showed considerable effects of time-dependent phenomena on the fatigue behavior. However, no systematic analysis to clearly determine the effect of creep and recovery on developed damage mechanisms of FRP composites has yet been conducted. The aim of this research is to understand the fatigue behavior of glass fiber-reinforced composite (GFRP) materials and establish a reliable methodology to analytically/numerically model the fatigue behavior of FRP composite materials. The fatigue behavior of (±45)2S angle-ply glass/epoxy laminated composite at different stress levels has been investigated in this thesis. It was observed that cyclic-dependent parameters (cyclic creep, fatigue stiffness, and hysteresis loop area) as well as damage development were a function of applied stress levels. In tension-tension continuous fatigue, by decreasing the stress ratio, the damage became more severe, fatigue stiffness exhibited greater changes, the hysteresis loop area became larger and a higher and more uneven self-generated temperature was recorded. The effect of loading interruption on fatigue behavior was studied by subjecting the specimens to tension-tension constant amplitude fatigue loading interrupted at ¿max by creep intervals. At high stress levels, the fatigue life was improved when hold time was short as a result of the fiber realignment caused by the creep strain, while longer hold time caused considerable creep damage and therefore premature fatigue failure of the specimens. The cyclic loading was also interrupted at zero stress level. The stiffness degradation rates and hysteresis loop area decreased during the cyclic loading phase, while specimen recovery occurred after each stress removal. It was observed that specimens loaded under interrupted fatigue exhibited longer fatigue lives than those continuously loaded at high stress levels as a result of partial fatigue stiffness restoration and crack blunting. It was concluded that fatigue design allowables based on continuous fatigue could be conservative. A model based on the theory of viscoelasticity was developed to simulate specimen recovery in viscoelastic materials and predict their cyclic-dependent mechanical properties. The developed model predicted the cyclic-dependent parameters well - the fatigue stiffness, hysteresis loop area, cyclic creep, storage and loss moduli as well as tan(¿).

EPFL2019

Material and structural performance of fiber-reinforced polymer composites at elevated and high temperatures

As the range of applications for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials in civil engineering constantly increases, there is more and more concern with regard to their performance in critical environments. The fire behavior of composite materials is especially important since complex physical and chemical processes such as the glass transition and decomposition occur when these materials are subjected to elevated and high temperatures, possibly leading to considerable loss of stiffness and strength. This stiffness and strength degradation in composite materials under elevated and high temperatures is the result of changes in polymer molecular structures. When polyester thermosets are subjected to elevated and high temperatures, they undergo three transitions (glass transition, leathery-to-rubbery transition, and rubbery-to-decomposed transition), corresponding to four different states (glassy, leathery, rubbery and decomposed). At a certain temperature, a composite material can therefore be considered as a mixture of materials that are in different states. As the content of each state varies with temperature, the composite material exhibits temperature-dependent properties. Since these changes in state can be described using kinetic theory, the quantity of material in each state can be estimated and the thermophysical and thermomechanical properties of the mixture can thus be determined. These concepts formed a basis for the development of thermophysical and thermomechanical property sub-models for composites at elevated and high temperatures and even for the description of post-fire status. Incorporating these thermophysical property sub-models into a heat transfer governing equation, thermal responses were calculated using a finite difference method. Integrating the thermomechanical property sub-models within structural theory, the mechanical responses were described using a finite element method and the time-to-failure was also predicted by defining a failure criterion. The modeling results for temperature responses, mechanical responses and post-fire behavior were compared with those obtained from structural endurance experiments on full-scale cellular GFRP (glass fiber-reinforced polymer, in this case polyester resin) panels subjected to a four-point bending configuration and fire from one side. The modeling results for time-to-failure were compared with those from the experiments carried out on GFRP tubes under combined compressive and thermal loadings. In each experimental setup, two different thermal boundary conditions were investigated – with and without water cooling through specimen cells – and good agreement was found. The understanding gained and modeling of the behavior of GFRP composites under elevated and high temperatures carried out in this thesis could be applicable for different composite materials, and also benefit investigations regarding both active and passive fire protection techniques in order to improve the fire resistance of structures made of such materials.

EPFL2009