Experimental evaluation and modelling of drilling responses in CFRP/honeycomb composite sandwich panels

Abstract

This work investigates the drilling responses of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite sandwich panels (CSPs). First, the effects of drill geometries, feed rates and support conditions on the peak thrust force and delamination area of the CSPs with different core thicknesses were experimentally studied. Then, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to model the intra-laminar damage and inter-laminar delamination of the CFRP face sheets, as well as the failure of the adhesive and honeycomb core. The FEA models were validated by experiments in terms of drilling responses and damage behaviours. The results show that the maximum errors of the peak thrust force in between the FEA-predicted and experimental results are 12.5% and 7.5% for the CFRP and CSPs, respectively. Finally, the damage mechanism analysis and parametric study for the CSPs under drilling were examined.