Effects of fiber orientations on fracture mechanisms in rotary ultrasonic drilling of carbon fiber reinforced plastic laminates

Abstract

The fracture mechanisms of the carbon fibers seriously depend on fiber orientations which significantly influence the surface quality of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs). Rotary ultrasonic drilling (RUD), possessing some excellent characteristics including the superior sidewall quality and high cylindricity error, offers a possibility for the efficient drilling of the CFRP components. In contrast, the effects of fiber orientations on fiber fracture mechanisms are still not fully recognized in RUD of CFRP composites. Incorporated with kinematic characteristics of the abrasive, a novel theoretical model was developed to quantitatively describe the effective orientation of the fiber. Afterwards, the drilling experiments with and without ultrasonic were conducted under the same parameters. The surface topographies of the hole sidewalls at various orientations were comparatively characterized to explore the fiber fracture mechanisms. Subsequently, the influences of these mechanisms and the drilling parameters the surface qualities were also investigated. Moreover, the bending failure mechanisms of the carbon fibers were explored through theoretical analysis. As a result, another fiber fracture mechanism, bending failure, was identified with the smooth fracture and micro-fragmentation topographies at upwind and leeward parts of the fiber cross-section, respectively. Ultrasonic superimposition by means of the immense inertia force of the abrasive promoted the micro-fracture of the carbon fiber. The weaker sustainment from the back-up materials brought about the serious bending failure of fiber oriented at 135°, while the axial load component aggravated the tensile fracture of the carbon fiber with the effective orientation of 45°. The critical moment of the fiber bending failure was also established, by incorporating the beam theory and linear elastic fracture mechanics. The fundamental investigation provided a favorable foundation for further optimizing the parameters to improve the drilling quality and efficiency in formal RUD of CFRP composites.