A Global Improvement in Drilling and Countersinking of Multi-Material Stacks with Vibration Assisted Drilling 2015-01-2501

Over the last few years, many aircraft production lines have seen their production rate increase. In some cases, to avoid bottlenecks in the assembly lines, the productivity of processes needs to be improved while keeping existing machine-tools.

In this context, the case of drilling machine-tools tends to require particular attention, especially when multi-material parts are drilled. In such instances, the Vibration Assisted Drilling (VAD) process can be a way to improve productivity and reliability while keeping quality standards.

This article presents a case of a drilling/countersinking process for stainless steel and titanium stack parts. Firstly, the article assesses the feasibility and benefits of using Vibration Assisted Drilling and Countersinking with the current cutting-tools. Secondly, it studies the consequences of introducing a new tool holder in the process, which combines the V.A.D. function, a new declutching function and the ability to control countersink depth. Thirdly, a process study is undertaken on these last developments in order to design more efficient cutting tool geometries. New drilling and countersinking combined tools are developed. Their performances when used with the V.A.D. process are highlighted, in terms of productivity, reliability and quality.