Evaluation of surface roughness in drilling particle-reinforced composites

Aluminum matrix composite materials being used in different sectors including automobile, aerospace, defense, and medical and are currently displacing unreinforced materials with their superior mechanical properties. The metal removal process of drilling is widely used in many structural applications. This study experimentally investigates the drilling characteristics of silicon carbide (SiCp)-reinforced Al 7075 composites produced by stir casting method. Also, two different drill materials with high-speed steel (HSS) and titanium nitride (TiN)-coated HSS carry out in drilling operation. The effect of operational parameters such as cutting speed and feed rate and materials parameters such as weight fraction of reinforcement and cutting tools on the surface roughness of drilled holes were evaluated in the drilling operations. The results of the drilling test indicate that the feed rate and cutting speed have a very strong effect on the surface roughness of matrix alloy and composite materials. The surface roughness (Ra ) values increased with increasing the feed rate and decreased with increasing the cutting speed. Under 0.10 mm/rev and 20 m/min drilling conditions and using HSS drill, surface roughness values for matrix, 5% SiC-, 10% SiC-, and 15% SiC-reinforced composites, were obtained 2.57, 2.59, 2.61, and 2.64 µm, respectively; besides, using TiN-coated HSS drill, surface roughness values were obtained 1.60, 1.63, 1.64, and 1.66 µm, respectively. An increase in the weight fraction of the abrasive SiC particle resulted in a very crucial deterioration quality of the drilled hole. TiN-coated HSS drills better performance exhibits than uncoated HSS drills for all the drilling operations about surface roughness properties. Short chip formations observed both the matrix alloy and the composite materials for two different drills in the drilling operations.