Cutting Temperatures and Their was measured with a thermocouple at the drilling tool.
It is
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Effects on the Machining
Behaviour in Drilling Reinforced
Plastic Composites
By Klaus Weinert* and Christoph Kempmann
In many cases machining of fiber reinforced polymer
materials is performed without cooling lubricant, since the
coolant can lead to swelling of the polymer as well as induc-
ing chemical reactions with certain functional groups of the
macro molecules. This effect can lead to shape and accuracy
errors not only of the drilled hole but also of the entire work
piece, since a spreading of coolant can not be completely
avoided. The latter effect causes a weakening of the compos-
ite material by reducing the material strength, which is a
result of lower adhesive forces within the polymer material
and between polymer and fiber. In contrast, dry machinining
offers the risk of a thermal damage induced by high process
temperatures.[1±3] Especially, the thermo physical properties
of fiber reinforced polymers causes high temperatures at the
tool tip, when machined. The thermal conductivity as well as
the heat capacity is rather low compared to metal matrix
materials, hence the energy balance between tool and work-
piece is disturbed. Furthermore, the thermal expansion coeffi-
cient is also low, which causes accuracy errors when machin-
ing. Another reason which must be considered is the fact,
that especially thermoplastic polymers have a glass transition
temperature ranging from 150±250 C. This means, that heat
formation during the drilling process leads to plastifying of
the polymer matrix. In the presented research work, the tem-
peratures which are generated when drilling fiber reinforced
plastics are measured and the dependency of cutting parame-
ters is discused. Furthermore, some general aspects are out-
lined including damages, tool wear and cutting forces, which
can be attributed to the process temperatures and thermal
overloads.
Tool Temperatures: Within the presented work an initial
approach was undertaken for measuring the cutting tempera-
tures at the tool tip, in order to estimate the thermal load
when drilling fiber reinforced polymers. In Figure 1 (left) the
feed force is shown as well as the tool temperature, which
± claerance face as well as the minor cutting edges should pre-
[*] Prof. K. Weinert, Dr. C. Kempmann
Institut für Spanende Fertigung, ISF
Universität Dortmund
Baroper Str. 301, D-44227 Dortmund
E-mail: weinert@isf.de
684  2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim DOI: 10.1002/adem.200400025
notable, that the temperature increases instantaneously up to
about 180 C at the beginning of drilling. After reaching the
initial temperature level it increases through the whole pro-
cess continuously. The maximum of 387 C is reached, when
the tool exits the bore hole. The occuring temperature maxi-
mum is possibly caused by stronger friction, as the reinforce-
ment plies are not cutted anymore, but pressed out by the
tool tip. Because the temperatures were not directly measured
at the cutting edge, it can be assumed, that the temperatures
are much higher there. It is also important, that the tempera-
tures are at unexpected high levels, which can be rated as cru-
cial for the machining of plastics. Furthermore, increasing the
feed changes the course of the temperature progression
(Fig. 1, right). While a definitely progressive rising of the tool
temperature is observed at lower feed rates, a nearly constant
temperature course is evident when elevated feed rates are
set. In the presented case there can even be observed a sligth
sinking of the temperatures. From a theoretical viewpoint, at
low feed rate the overall contact length of the drilling tool is
particular higher, hence more friction takes place between the
cutting edge and the workpiece material. At the same time
the minor thickness of cut leads to a lower energy transforma-
tion. When drilling is carried out with the threefold feed rate
(Fig. 1, right), it can be considered, that a balance exists
between temperature generation and heat removal. The pro-
gression of the temperature course gives no information
about the amount of energy, which is converted when dril-
ling. But the temperature progression points out, wether a
heat flux balance exists or not. In the case of increasing tool
temperatures during drilling there is no heat flux balance,
since still heat is generated by which the tool is loaded. In the
case of a constant course a balance exists. Hence, the amount
of generated heat equals the amount of heat, which is dissi-
pated by the worpiece, chips and environment.
Figure 2 exhibits the dependency of cutting speed and
feed rate on the average tool temperatures. In order to avoid
errors by hot spots or by the up-heating the average tool tem-
perature was calculated from the temperature progression be-
tween a drilling depth of 3 mm to 17 mm. The results indi-
cate, that the average tool temperature rises with both
increasing cutting speeds and feed rates, which is basically
caused by the higher conversion of energy. In both cases
increasing cutting conditions means a higher energy transfor-
mation and hence also a higher dissipation of mechanical
energy into heat. Increasing the cutting speed at constant feed
levels involves more heat generation by friction processes. In
contrast, higher feed rates result in a shorter contact length of
the cutting edge. From this point of view less friction of the
vail, which actually should lead to a minor degree of heat
developement. But here it is expected, that the thickness of
cut is substancially higher thus causing higher energy trans-
formation within the shear zone. In this way the effect of less
friction is compensated by shearing process in the material.
ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8
Weinert, Kempmann/Machining Behaviour in Drilling Reinforced Plastic Composites

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Fig. 1. Tool temperature when drilling fiber reinforced CFRP.

Fig. 2. Influence of the cutting parameters on tool temperature.

Influence of Cutting Temperatures on the Process Behaviour and minor degree, so that the thermal load of the tool is much
Machining Quality: The measurement of tool temperature higher than the load of the machined composite material. The
indicates, that the generated heat during drilling could affect thermal load related to the energy conversion of the machin-
the process behaviour as well as the machining quality. In the ing process leads to a radial expansion of the drilling tool and
following, several studies are presented exhibiting the influ- hence also causes an expansion of the bore diameter. During
ence of temperatures on the drilling process.
First of all the influence on the bore diameter
accuracy was examined. During investigat-
ing the bore diameter accuracies after dril-
ling with different tool types by applying
different cutting conditions a characteristic
spreading pattern was observed. Figure 3 il-
lustrates the characteristical development of
diameter values when several bore holes are
drilled one after another. In the case dis-
cussed here, at first three bore holes were
machined and afterwards thirteen without
interruption. Afterwards, breaks were neces-
sary to measure the tool wear. It is notable,
that the measured diameters increase con-
tinuously. This effect can be related to the
heating of the tool initiated by the rising
number of bore holes. Because of its thermo-
physical properties carbon fiber reinforced
plastics absorb the generated heat only by a Fig. 3. Diameter variation as a result of tool heating and tool wear.

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8 http://www.aem-journal.de  2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 685
 Weinert, Kempmann/Machining Behaviour in Drilling Reinforced Plastic Composites
the machining break, the applied tool cools down and re-
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covers the nominal diameter. Moreover, the bore diameter
decreases from interval to interval, which is a result of wear
appearance at the minor cutting edges and thus a reduction
of the nominal drill diameter occurs. The tests exhibit, that di-
mensional faults and form errors caused by heat appear, if
several drill holes are machined in direct progression.
Furthermore, the experiments were carried out at the same
cutting conditions without interruption after a certain num-
ber of drilled holes. In this case, the typical saw tooth progres-
sion of bore diameters is not observed. Moreover, the same
experiments were also conducted with lubricant. The results
confirm, that the use of lubricant shows only a statistical
spreading of bore diameters.
Further tests point out, that thermal effects not only inter-
fere with the dimensional accuracy, but also can change the
mechanisms at the cutting edge. Figure 4 depicts the mea-
sured forces during the drilling process, when machining
reinforced plastics with a thermoplastic matrix. For metal
materials or thermosetting plastics progressions at an almost
constant level exist for the feed force and drilling torque, after
the drill tip is fully engaged. Contrary, the feed force abnor-
mally decreases and the drilling torque rises, depending on
the conditions of the process when thermoplastics are ma-
chined. In this connection, the appearing thermal effects are
the reason for that. The glass transition temperature of ther-
moplastic polymers is far below the temperature of the melt-
ing point respectively the decomposition temperature of the
polymer. At the glass transition temperature the polymer
starts to flow ductile. Under this circumstances the feed force
decreases, since the material flows around the chisel edge, at
which a major amount of the feed force is transmitted. Here,
the feed force decreases about 100 N, which is equal to a third
of the measured forces. In contrast to this, the drilling torque
Fig. 4. Decrease of feed force and increase of drilling torque when machining thermoplastic materials ated heat is concentrated at the surface of the bore
as a result of tool heating.
686  2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
increases continuously, while drilling thermosetting plastics
exhibits a constant course. While the feed force rises when
the material becomes ductile and inclines to plasticise, the
softening of the material causes an increasing drilling torque.
Generally, elevated drilling torques result from ductile mate-
rial properties. The risen friction of the minor cutting edges
also contributes to the drilling torque.
This theory is evident, if the drilling test were carried out
by the use of lubricant. Thus, Figure 5 confirms, that the
decreasing feed force is caused by thermal effects. Here, the
use of emulsion as coolant was tested under equal machining
conditions. It is notable, that on the one hand the cutting force
is much higher when emulsion is used and on the other hand
the described dropping of the cutting force does not appear
when the cutting edge is fully engaged. The feed force depicts
a constant progression. The cooling effect prevents a soften-
ing respectively plasticising of the polymer, so that the brittle
properties of the PEEK-material appear. The higher cutting
forces in case of using emulsion point out, that the material
does not soften and thus opposes a higher mechanical resis-
tance to the major cutting edge and especially to the chisel
edge.
The use of coolant also indicates a positive effect on tool
wear.[4,5] Figure 6 exhibits the influence of coolant on the tool
wear. In this case, an uncoated cemented carbide drill of the
application group K10/20 with an internal coolant supply
was applied. The machined material was a glass fiber fabrics
reinforced epoxy resin with a fiber fraction of about 70 %.
Here it becomes clear, that even after a very short operating
time without coolant heavy wear occures. In contrast to this,
the tool wear is significantly lower when machining with
emulsion as coolant.
Because of the fact, that emulsion was used, it can be con-
cluded, that the cooling effect is more important for the wear
reduction than the decreased friction. The usage of
coolant prevents, that the cemented carbides, which
are embedded in the cobalt binder phase, of the tool
is released by aditional temperature effects.
Machining of fiber reinforced plastics in many
cases leads to machining defects such as delamina-
tions, fiber cracks or fiber bundle pull-outs.[6±8]
Furthermore, the occuring temperatures when ma-
chining fiber reinforced plastics do not only cause
high tool wear, but also affect the machined work-
piece peripheral zone. The polymer matrix reacts
very sensitively, according to its chemical proper-
ties, to thermal influences already in a small tem-
perature range. Hence, a damage of the peripheral
zone must be expected. Figure 7 points out, that by
specificly selected cutting conditions burnings ap-
pear on the edge of the bore, which indicates pyrol-
ysis or decomposition of the polymer matrix. Be-
cause of the poor heat conductivity attributed to the
matrix material and even the glass fiber, the gener-
http://www.aem-journal.de ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8
Weinert, Kempmann/Machining Behaviour in Drilling Reinforced Plastic Composites
Fig. 5. Influence of coolant on the machining forces.
Fig. 6. Comparing the tool wear with and without usage of coolant.
Fig. 7. Pyrolysis on the edge of the bore hole caused by overheating.
edge. The process conditions also have an obvious effect on
the occurance of burnings. On the one hand low feed rates
and on the other hand high cutting speeds cause an overheat-
ing of the workpiece peripheral zone. Moreover, a depen-
dency of the wear conditions on the tools cutting edge was
detected. When drilling with heavily worn tools the burnings
shown in Figure 7 appear. Furthermore, there are indications,
that little rake angles promote the appearance of the de-
scribed burns.
ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8
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The penetration depth of thermal influences is also an
important factor, but very hard to detect. Figure 8 displays
the visualized microstructure in the peripheral zone of a
machined specimen constituted from carbon fiber fabrics
reinforced plastics. The deformation of fibers in the peripher-
al zone in a distance of 85 lm is apparent. This deflection
occurs only when materials with a thermoplastic matrix are
machined, in which the direction of the fibers indicates the
cutting direction of the process. The cause of this occurence is
http://www.aem-journal.de  2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 687
 Weinert, Kempmann/Machining Behaviour in Drilling Reinforced Plastic Composites

tion of the tool temperatures. Considering economical cutting

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conditions it must be noted, that the heat load involves ma-

chining defects.
Furthermore, the investigations point out the way cutting
temperatures affect the machining quality and machining de-
fects. Constant heating of the tool when several drill holes are
machined consecutively, results in significant expansion of
the nominal bore diameter. Moreover, an effect to be attribut-
ed to heat generation is observed, which becomes apparent in
the cutting force progressions. Here, an unusual decreasing
of the feed forces can be recognized due to the plastification
of the matrix polymer. Utilizing lubrication the described
Fig. 8. Deflection of fiber bundles in the peripheral zone as a result of a softening of the force decay is missing. Furthermore, besides friction and
matrix.
other effects tool wear is supported by cutting temperatures.
Burnings at the bore edge indicates that the process tempera-
tures can moreover lead to pyrolysis and decomposition of
a bending of the fibers to be pushed away by the cutting edge the polymer material. Melting of thermoplastic matrices like
before the real cutting takes place. The reason for this deflec- poly ether ether ketone or poly ether imide respectively can
tion is a plastification of the matrix material. The penetration be recognized by deflected fiber bundles after visualizing the
depth of heat can be recognized by this zone indicating the microstructure within the bore edge.
depth of softened material. According to the cutting condi-
tions this zone can reach deeper into the specimen. Because
of the fact that the used PEEK-material has a glass transition Experimental
temperature of 143 C, the temperature in the edge of the bore
hole must have exceeded this value. There are no visible de- The temperature measurement were conducted at the clearance face of the
drilling tool. Therefore, three nickel-chromium-nickel thermocouples were
flections of fibers in the peripheral zone, when materials with placed on the claerance face shortly beyond the cutting edge of a standard dril-
a thermosetting matrix are machined. In this case only fiber ling tool. The thermocouples were led through the cooling supply bore of the
cracks occur. tool. Before measuring the tool temperatures the thermo couples were calibrat-
ed by contacting the prepared tool to a heated steel sample with predifened
Conclusions: The presented work aims at basic examina- temperatures. For technical reasons, it was necessary to perform the tempera-
tions of temperature measurements in drilling fiber rein- ture test with a fixed tool and a rotating composite specimen. The so-called
inverted drilling kinematic is displayed in Figure 9.
forced composite materials. Furthermore, machining defects For the experiments carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin were used contain-
which occur as a result of excessive cutting temperatures ing woven layers with a fabric of the twill type 2”2. The average fiber volume
were presented. For a coarse evaluation of the cutting temper- fraction is specified as 70 percentage. The tool temperatures were recorded
when drilling cylindric specimens. The specimens had an outer diameter of
atures an initial approach was chosen wherby the overall tool 20 mm, which were previously prepared by turning. Here, through borings
temperatures were measured. Here, several types of compos- were produced during temperature analysis with a drill depth of 25 mm. The
ite materials were machined. Within the
drilling tests fiber fabric reinforced as
well as short fiber reinforced plastic were
examined. There were also regarded ma-
terials with both duroplastic and thermo-
plastic matrices.
The research work indicates, that the
tool temperatures measured were con-
siderable high. In this context it should
be assumed, that the temperatures at the
cutting edge are probably higher, since
heat flow and instationary prosseses
superimpose the measured values. With
respect to the thermo physical and chem-
ical properties of polymer materials
damages to be expressed by melting, de-
composing or pyrolysis should be con-
sidered. Depending on the cutting condi-
tions the tool temperatures reach from
200 ± 350 C. Both increased cutting
speeds and feed rates leads to an eleva- Fig. 9. Experimental setup for temperature measurements.

688  2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim http://www.aem-journal.de ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8
cutting proceeded perpendicular to the carbon fiber fabrics using a cemented
carbide drilling tool. The analysis of the tool temperatures were conducted by
varying the cutting parameters.
The effects of process temperatures on the machining results and on the cut-
ting process itself were studied. In this connection, several non-reinforced and
reinforced polymer materials such as poly ether ether ketone and epoxy resin
were machined. In addition, glass fiber reinforced as well as carbon short fiber
reinforced composites have been examined.
Received: March 04, 2004
Final version: May 11, 2005
± shape of velocity and temperature distributions in the case of
[1] W.-C. Chen, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manufact. 1997, 37, 1097.
[2] W. König, P. Graû, Annals of the CIRP 1989, 38, 119.
[3] H. Takeyama, N. Iijima, Annals of the CIRP 1988, 37, 93.
[4] K. Weinert, C. Kempmann, Production Engineering 2003,
10 (2), 64.
[5] S. C. Lin, I. K. Chen, Wear 1996, 194, 156.
[6] E. Brinksmeier, R. Jannsen, Annals of the CIRP 2002, 51,
90.
[7] N. Bhatnagar, N. Ramakrishnan, N. K. Naik, R. Koman-
duri, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manufact. 1995, 35, 701.
[8] M. S. Won, C. K. H. Dharan, Transactions of the ASME
2002, 124, 778.
Effect of Injection Parameters on
Velocity and Temperature
Distributions of Alumina-Titania
In-Flight Particles in Atmospheric
Plasma Spraying
By Sofiane Guessasma*, Ghislain Montavon,
Christian Coddet
Thermal spraying process is a technological process for
coating manufacturing implementing a wide variety of mate-
rials and processes.[1,2] The coating quality control of such
technique generally considers the monitoring of the molten
feedstock particle characteristics (i.e., velocity and tempera-
ture) before their impingement onto the work piece to be
covered.[3] These characteristics are intimately related to the
particle semi-molten state and proved to be very sensitive to
± ciated to each condition (Tab. 3). These parameters are the
[*] Dr. S. Guessasma*, Dr. G. Montavon, Prof. C. Coddet
Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les MatØriaux,
les ProcØdØs et les Surfaces (LERMPS)
UniversitØ de Technologie de Belfort-MontbØliard (UTBM)
Site de SØvenans, 90 010 Belfort Cedex, France
E-mail: sofiane.guessasma@utbm.fr
ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2004, 6, No. 8 DOI: 10.1002/adem.200300584
the processing parameters[4±7] and influencing significantly
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the in-service properties of coatings.[8]
Several techniques are implemented to follow these char-
acteristics during spraying and most of them belong to feed-
back models controlling the regularity of the coating indus-
trial manufacture.[9±11] Unfortunately, this control deals with
average characteristics and do not take into account the effect
of process parameters on particle characteristic distributions.
In such a way, this paper aimed at studying the effect of APS
(Atmospheric Plasma Spraying) process parameters on the
alumina-titania in-flight particles.
Energetic parameters were extensively studied but not
injection parameters.[3±7] In this paper, the role of injection
parameters is pointed out through the consideration of 3
parameters whereas energetic parameters were fixed to arbi-
trary values called reference condition.
Results and discussion: In-flight particle characteristic distri-
butions were approximated using a Gaussian function of the
form (Fig. 2):
!
2
A … x x †
y ˆ y0 ‡ p exp 2 c (1)
w p=2 w2
where y is a frequency associated to a given x characteristic
value. y0 represents a reference frequency. A is the area under
the curve. xc is the centre of the distribution and w is its
width.
Eq. 1 is believed to represent intrinsic in-flight particle
characteristics because mainly of the fact that powder particle
size exhibits generally a Gaussian variation around mean val-
ue cumulated to the fact that particle velocity and tempera-
ture are dependent on particle diameter.[6]
Correlation factor associated with particle velocity was the
highest compared to particle diameter and temperature
(Tab. 2). Thus, particle velocity profiles are best described by
Eq. 1. The low correlation factor associated to particle diame-
ter is attributed to sensitivity of particle emissive intensity to
the square of particle size.[12] In the case of particle tempera-
ture, the relative low correlation factor is explained by a limit-
ing phenomenon corresponding to particle evaporation.
According to Figure 2b, the centre of temperature distribu-
tion was at 2558 C, which is near alumina evaporation
temperature at equilibrium conditions (2493 C). Particle
temperature profile can be thus best approximated by a half-
Gaussian shape when particle temperature exceeds material
evaporation temperatures.
The effect of process parameters considered in this study
are evaluated considering mean and standard deviation asso-
main quantifiers associated to particle characteristic distribu-
tions.
In the case of Figure 2 corresponding to a reference condi-
tion, the mean values for in-flight particle velocity, tempera-
ture and diameter were 269 m.s±1, 2474 C and 39 lm, respec-
tively. The relative spread with respect to mean characteristic
 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 689