High Speed Drilling, Part I: Of Aluminum Workpiece Material

Tech Paper #MR03-245 In the promising high speed and high penetration machining applications, the high speed drilling (HSD) process is the weakest process since the current commercial drills could not be effectively used at the satisfied tool life and tooling cost. Part I of this paper summarizes the results obtained in several HSD applications of 390 lost foam cast aluminum and 319 cast aluminum alloys. It evaluates the cutting process at high speeds with the 390 aluminum and evaluates the state-of-the-art drill designs (including tool material and coatings) for high performance applications in 319 aluminum. This paper also establishes a benchmark for measuring performance improvements for new drills for cast aluminum alloy applications. Author: John S. Agapiou, General Motors Corporation, Warren, MI.