DOI: 10.1002/adem.

201200342

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In Situ Qualitative Inspection of Hole Exit Delamination at Bottom-Ply during Drilling of Woven CFRP Epoxy Composite Laminates
By Ali Faraz* and Dirk Biermann

Exploiting very high speed digital videography, an in situ examination of the hole exit delamination at the bottom-most ply during drilling holes in the selected woven CFRP epoxy laminates is presented. At the beginning, a rotating elastic bulge of the carbon bers at the bottom-ply, which is just the impression of the protruding drill chisel edge, was always observed. Following the elastic bulging, a few, initial cracks along the weak ber/matrix interfaces appeared. Thereafter, tensile failures in the carbon bers were seen. The exact location of the initiation of these ber failures specically depends on the actual drill-hole position with respect to the woven conguration of the bottom-ply. A visual model for the weak interstitial or undulated regions at the bottom-ply is also proposed in this paper, showing the undulating bers, which are susceptible to mostly tensile failures under the drilling loads. During a sub-completion drilling-phase at the bottom-ply, various cracks were seen to be propagating mostly via linear paths. Also, the exit delamination at the bottom-ply during a sub-completion drilling-phase was always observed as to be divided into various small, independent localized contourseach of which propagated almost independently through within several individual warps/wefts during drill-feed. Also, the shape of each such tiny contour within a single warp/weft was identied as elliptic, which is observed around an entire drill-hole in unidirectional (UD) composites as reported in literature. It was also observed that the overhanging cantilever-like bers at the bottom-ply are really difcult to cut, once their base-location or their exit delamination contour reaches outside the hole nominal diameter. Moreover, by referring to some very basic cutting angle congurations for the orthogonal trimming of UD-composites as found rarely in archival literature, an illustrative model diagram is also proposed for the drilling of the selected laminate material. This idea is also approximately validated via a few visual observations. The proposed visual model is generally an attempt in correlating the observed peripheral hole quality (delamination) with various instantaneous tool/ber engagement congurations occurring across the entire drill-hole periphery at the bottom-ply, during the very last drilling-phase.

It is commonly known that drilling is mostly performed as a post-manufacturing operation for carbon ber reinforced plastics (CFRP) parts and components, mainly for their further joining and assembling. Sometimes, hundreds of thousands of holes are drilled on a complete aircraft unit manufacture, for riveting and bolted-joints. The delamination phenomenon

[*] Dr. A. Faraz, Prof. D. Biermann Institute of Machining Technology (ISF), Baroper Strae 301 t Dortmund, 44227 Dortmund, Technische Universita Germany E-mail: ali_faraz@engineer.com

during drilling of CFRPs has been recognized as one of the critical problems by all of the researchers. It is mainly dened as an inter-laminar or -ply failure behavior of the CFRP composites. At the hole entrance periphery, it is called as peel-up delamination, or simply hole entry delamination. It occurs more severely at the bottom-most surface or ply of CFRP materials and is called as push-out or -down delamination, or simply hole exit delamination.[1] The researchers do have a major consensus in regarding or considering the hole exit delamination in drilling CFRP composites as very critical, with respect to the nal quality of the components and their (sub)assemblies. Therefore, a considerable amount of research has been carried out by

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the researchers, hitherto, and is still underway, in order to determine, analyze, and to control the inevitable problem of the hole exit delamination damage in drilling various types of CFRP composites. The work of DiPaolo et al. back in 1996[2] perhaps is the very rst known attempt for capturing the initial creation and accruement of hole exit delamination cracks during drilling of unidirectional (UD) CFRP epoxy laminates by virtue of video techniques. They identied three signicant types of the observed cracks and interpreted them via some basic principles of fracture mechanics. They recorded drilling loads in order to correlate them with fracture growth and to infer the cause and extent of delamination damage at the bottom-most ply of the selected UD laminates. Shape of the hole exit delamination in their observations appeared to be of typical form, which is usually elliptical in case of drilling UD ber reinforced plastics (FRPs). A contrast exists among the various approaches by many different researchers, who have modeled analytically the critical drilling forces (mostly thrust) for UD FRPs so far, in assuming the shape of the hole exit delamination. A circular shape is mainly assumed for simplicity. Like various other researchers, Hocheng and Tsao[3] also assumed a circular shape of delamination for modeling critical thrust force, which is required for the onset of delamination, for various designs of drill bits. They later on, however, incorporated an ellipticity-ratio in another research[4] in order to address material anisotropy issues of the UD laminates. Earlier, Jain and Yang[5] also employed linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) to analytically predict the critical thrust force, as required for the onset of hole exit delamination crack. According to them, in an ideally isotropic laminate, the shape of delamination would be circular. Whereas, for UD laminates, the observed delamination shape will be ellipticalits principal directions parallel and transverse to the ber orientation within the laminate as shown in Figure 1. The elliptical shape of the hole exit delamination was experimentally veried by the same authors in another research,[6] later on. In the same context, the main ndings of Singh and Bhatnagar[7] in drilling UD glass ber reinforced plastics (GFRP) were also the same. Singh et al.,[8] in the results of one of their experimental and FEA study, also observed the same shape. One of the major in situ observations made in this paper, during drilling the chosen woven epoxy CFRP laminates, was that the hole exit delamination damage at the bottom-most laminate always appeared as divided into several small, localized, independent macroscopic contours which were spotted within a single warp, or similarly, within a single weft of the woven CFRP fabric used. When carefully observed, which will be evidenced in the results later on, the shape of each such individual localized delamination contour could roughly be identied as elliptical within a single weft or warp of the chosen fabric laminates. Therefore, a schematic sketch or an illustrative model for the said localized delamination

Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of elliptical shape of hole exit delamination in UD-composites.[5]

contours or regions across a hole exit periphery is being proposed and presented[9] in this paper, in advance in Figure 2, for a better understanding of the relevant results (visual observations) discussed later on. It is also asserted here that due to a relatively broader warp or weft size value of 5 mm 2.5 mm (approximately) of the selected woven CFRP laminate material conguration, the straight carbon bers, which are oating freely within a single warp/weft of the bottom-most ply, might also have almost similar characteristics as that of the straight oating bers at the bottom-most ply in a UD laminate. Regarding the extent or spread of the hole exit damage in drilling CFRPs, Ko nig and Gra[10] wrote that that in drilling the UD laminates, the delamination damage or crack(s) can propagate as wide as up to a location where the adhesion between the ber and matrix at their mutual interface, could sustain the occurring drilling loads. On the other hand, in case of a woven fabric laminate, the corresponding cracks might be traced up to next available crossing bers (ber-crossovers) that could block or resist their propagation. We may presume that the extent or the width of the hole exit damage propagation may strongly depend on the oat-length or -width of the concerned bers of the weft and warp regions. Shin and Jang[11] studied various possible paths of the delamination cracks in their fractographical analysis of the woven epoxy CFRP laminates. Two different possible characteristic paths for crack propagation in the warp(s) of the selected woven composite were identied by them. First type of crack was proposed as to be propagating alone in the matrix, owing to the brittle fracture of the epoxy matrix resin of the warp, until it reached the adjacent or the next weft. Whereas, the other crack was traced as to be propagating along the mutual ber/matrix interface of the warp, translating till the next weft. They, however, did not report anything concrete about the failures (break) of the carbon bers in their aforementioned research.

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Fig. 2. Proposed illustrative model for several tiny, individual, or localized exit delamination contours present within a single warp/weft. The linear paths of crack propagation at the bottom-most ply during drilling the chosen woven CFRP are also illustrated.[9]

The woven fabric (plain, twill, or satin) composites are given preference over the UD ones in those industrial applications where complex part surfaces and geometries are involved. The formers are more drapeable as compared to the latter ones. On behalf of the in situ observations of this

paper, which will be shown and explained in detail later on, a schematic sketch (model) as given in Figure 3 is also being proposed and presented here in advance. The major inference of this visual model is that that an interstitial as well as an undulated region (carbon bers in the form of a bend) in the

Fig. 3. (a) Sketch of a woven fabric[11] (b) proposed illustrative model sketch (based on results of this paper) for carbon ber failures at an interstitial or undulated interface in a woven CFRP fabric laminate.[9]

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selected woven CFRP fabric composite is usually a weaker region, when compared to the one with straight, freely oating bers. Figure 3 illustrates the aforementioned regions schematically. Figure 3(a) is a reproduction of a gure taken from ref.[11] of this paper. Whereas, Figure 3(b) illustrates the visual model which is being proposed anew in this research. A typical, schematic carbon ber undulation (bend) is marked by a dashed-box at the shown interstitial region in Figure 3(b). It is much likely that these undulating carbon bers having bends are already prone to residual tensile stresses due to laminate curing; which makes them more susceptible to tensile fractures or failures under the applied drilling loads as shown, compared to those bers which are oating straight and freely within a single weft or a warp.[9] As discussed above, Ko nig and Gra[10] also quoted the possibility of hindrance offered by the ber-crossovers to crack propagation on its way in a woven laminate. Therefore, the basic assumption in this paper is that the hindrance caused by the intersecting ber-crossovers gives rise to the tension, resulting in their eventual fractures, as illustrated in Figure 3(b). Valuable research, however in a very few amount hitherto, for investigating cutting congurations or the resulting mechanisms with respect to various ber orientations in orthogonal trimming of FRPs has been added to archival literature. Sakuma and Seto[12] related the inuence of the ber orientation on the cutting loads, the surface nish and the tool wear in turning the selected GFRP composites. Later on, the work of Wang et al.[13] may be considered as of prime importance in introducing and categorizing three very basic or

the principal orthogonal cutting mechanisms in edgetrimming of the selected UD graphite epoxy laminates. The mechanisms were identied and explained mainly on behalf of the dened three different ranges for various cutting tool/ ber orientation (conguration) angle values in a laminate relative to the tool feed direction. A similar approach for determining the chip formation mechanism in orthogonal machining of UD CFRP laminates can also be found in the work of Bhatnagar et al.[14] They performed the Iosipescu shear tests, in parallel to their machining investigations, to characterize shear properties of the carbon bers having different ber orientations. It is noteworthy here that during the drilling process of CFRPs, or even that of FRPs in general, the ber orientation varies with every innitesimal instant of a single revolution of the main cutting edge of a drill bit. The cutting anglean instantaneous angle subtended between the orientation of the straight oating bers and the instantaneous velocity vector of the revolving main cutting edgecontinuously varies during a single drill bit revolution. Via the experimental observations presented at the end of this paper, the three principal orthogonal cutting congurations along with their angle ranges as given in ref.[13] are also examined for the drilling process of the selected woven CFRP laminates in the current work. Therefore, another illustrative model sketch is being proposed here in this paper as given in Figure 4. This visual model approximately identies and correlates the three principal instantaneous cutting angle congurations or ranges across the entire hole exit periphery during drilling the selected woven CFRP composite, while presuming the shown

Fig. 4. (a) A proposed visual model in this paper for various instantaneous cutting angle congurations at the bottom-ply in drilling the selected woven CFRP assuming the shown drill hole location.[9] (b) Three principal orthogonal cutting congurations as proposed in ref.[13].

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A. Faraz and D. Biermann/In-Situ Qualitative Inspection of Hole Exit Delamination . . . hole-position relative to the rotating drill bit cutting edges right at the bottom-most ply during the very nal drillingphase. The supposed instantaneous points (A) and (E) correspond to the Case-I; whereas, the point (F) relates to the Case-II; and similarly, (B)(D) belong to the Case-III type orthogonal cutting mechanism[13] as reproduced in Figure 4(b). The aim of this paper is to analyze, in situ, some qualitative aspects of the hole exit delamination during drilling throughholes in the selected woven epoxy CFRP fabric laminates, using uncoated cemented carbide twist drill bits, on a horizontal spindle CNC machining center. A modern digital (CMOS-sensor) high speed video camera was utilized to monitor the creation and propagation of cracks and the exit delamination damage at the bottom-most laminate-ply of the selected woven (twill 2/2) CFRP epoxy laminate material. A pure elastic behavior (elastic bulging) of carbon bers at the bottom-most laminate-ply, prior to their initial fractures, was always observed, initially, in the acquired high speed footages. The initiation and propagation of very initial macrofailures at the bottom-ply were examined. Various possible paths for cracks in linear form and carbon ber failures are also examined with respect to the nature and conguration of the selected woven fabric CFRP composite. The exit delamination observed to be divided in various tiny, localized individual contours and their individual propagation, all is also explained during a sub-completion drillingphase. The difcult-to-cut exible or elastic behavior of some spalled cantilever-like overhanging carbon bers and their bundles across the hole exit periphery is also described. Finally, an attempt is made for generally identifying the three principal orthogonal cutting angle congurations, which were described for the orthogonal trimming of UD laminates in ref.[13], and roughly examining and correlating the resulting delamination quality at the bottomply of the selected woven CFRP material, during the very nal drilling-phase. 1. Experimental Techniques 1.1. Workpiece Material and the Utilized Cutting Tools The selected workpiece material was woven CFRP epoxy laminates with a thickness of 10 mm. Sixteen plies of the Sigratex CE 8204-650-42 prepegs having twill 2/2 weave pattern, were stacked up together to form one cured laminate. The binding matrix was epoxy type E201 (hot cured) thermoset resin. The post-process ber content of the composite laminates reached a maximum limit of 60% by volume. Some of the key mechanical properties of the used woven epoxy CFRP composite laminates are listed in Table 1. Two totally different geometries of uncoated cemented carbide twist drill bits (details given in Table 2) having an equal diameter of 8 mm were used in this study. The uncoated carbide tools are much suitable when compared to the TiN- or TiAlN-coated ones, because of the inappropriate tribological behavior in cutting, the lower fracture toughness and the
Table 1. Mechanical properties of the CFRP laminates used in this study.

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Prepeg name Resin type Weave type Laminate density, r [g cm3] Fiber content [% by volume] Tensile strength [MPa] Youngs modulus, E [GPa] Flexural strength [MPa] Shear modulus, G [GPa] Resin glass transition temperature, Tg [8C] Carbon ber type Yarn type

Sigratex CE 8204-650-42 Epoxy E201 (hot-cured) Twill 2/2 1.55 5560 760 70 780 55 140 HT (high tenacity) ber 12K (DIN 65184)

relatively weaker interlayer adhesion of these coatings to the carbide substrate.[15] The selected drill bit T1 has a very ne and tough grain-structure K30F, which is why it is usually recommended for the applications with abrasive workpiece materials like CFRPs. T2 is also a twist drill bit with two utes. However, it is not suitable for making holes in FRPs, owing to its near-to-zero geometry and a relatively larger chisel-edge.

1.2. Experimental Setup, Cutting Conditions, and Videography Details Drilling tests were carried out on the horizontal-spindle CNC machining center, called Ixion (model: TLF 1004). This is a very robust 4-axis machine-tool designed specically for the deep-hole-drilling operation, and has the maximum spindle speed and power of 6000 rpm and 11 kW, respectively. The cutting conditions implemented in this study are listed in Table 3. No coolant was used during the experiments. Figure 5(a) illustrates schematically the used experimental setup for the drilling tests performed in this research, whereas a small glimpse of the actual experimental ambience is also depicted in the portion (b) of the same gure. The workpiece was clamped rigidly and vertically on a xture as shown, which was mounted onto the machine-table directly, such that the exit delamination could easily be visually recorded. This was achieved by milling a circular cavity into the vertical/
Table 2. Drill bit utilized in this study.

Drill bit

No. of lips Point angle [deg] Rake angle[a] [deg] Clearance angle [deg]

2 118 29 8

2 85 0 18

[a] Measured right at the corner of the main cutting edge.

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Table 3. Cutting conditions used in the experiments.

Drill diameter, D [mm] Cutting speed, vc [m min1] Feedrate, f [mm rev1] Laminate thickness [mm] Dry cutting

8 80, 150 0.05, 0.18, 0.35 10

upright link-plate of the xture, which the workpiece laminate was clamped onto. High speed video footages of the hole exit delamination during drilling the selected woven CFRP epoxy laminates were recorded using a commercial digital high speed camera, of the make Photron Fastcam SA3 (Model: 120K-M2). This is also a very robust, modern, and sophisticated device which is based on the CMOS-sensor technology and is mostly used in the crash-tests and various other similar critical industrial applications. This device was provided with a detachable, supplementary set of optical objective-lenses and a collimator that could help in proper focusing, sharpening the tiny delamination contours across an entire hole exit periphery. The camera was installed rigidly in order to avoid small vibrations during the tests. This whole camera setup, however, allowed for necessary positional changes (pan and tilt, etc.) which were required after every single test-run, i.e., for the adjacent hole, to be drilled next. The use of photographical zooming objective lens and collimator severely reduces the intensity of the captured light. Therefore, three additional external spotlight lamps had to be also integrated into this setup, in order to properly illuminate the

hole exit peripheral zone of the selected black-colored workpiece material. The video camera was linked directly to a laptop PC via a very fast Photron Gigabit Ethernet communication interface, allowing for a recording of round about 4 GB of data per test within a few seconds. The laptop was installed with the supplementary commercial software for the acquisition, storage, editing, or post-processing and for the analysis of the acquired digital video footages data. The footage data was stored in the AVI-format, at a resolution of 512 256 pixels (monochrome at 12-bit depth) and at a very high acquiring framing frequency of exactly 7500 frames-per-second (fps). 2. Results and Discussion 2.1. Elastic Bulging, Initial Macrocracks, and Fiber Failures at the Bottom-Most Ply Figure 6 shows a few images taken out and compiled together from the acquired high speed digital video footages at various drilling time instants, t, under the given drilling conditions. A pure elastic behavior of the carbon bers at the bottom-most ply of the selected workpiece material was visible at t 0.0692 s. This is similar to what was also seen by DiPaolo et al.[2] It is a dynamic impression of the protruding drill chisel edge on the bottom-most ply of the selected laminate when the chisel edge is aligned almost perpendicular or transversely to the oating orientation of the shown straight warp bers. At the following time instant of t 0.07333 s, the same chisel edge has twisted further clockwise and is now aligned parallel or longitudinally to the aforementioned warp bers direction. The bulge also appeared as to be changing its

Fig. 5. (a) Schematic illustration of experimental setup. (b) Actual photograph of the setup.

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Fig. 6. Elastic bulging and appearance of very initial macrofractures at ber/matrix interface at an interstice at the bottom-ply of CFRP/laminate under protruding drill chisel edge.

shape and was revolving along with the revolutions of the protruding shape of the chisel edge, continuously. No macrocracks were observed until then, and the bers were continuously being pushed down, under the tension exerted by the distributed load of the drill chisel edge during its feed. The hole exit delamination in drilling CFRP laminates may be considered as analogous to the problem of burr formation during the drilling or machining of the metals and other conventional engineering materials. A comprehensive account on burr formation and its control has been gathered by Aurich et al.[16] Categorizing various burr formation mechanisms, analytical models, nite-element-method (FEM) analyses, and simulations etc. for machining metals, it can be construed from the aforementioned authors review that there is always an elastic/plastic deformation zone right ahead of the tip of a cutting tool during its action, and also around its tip. Contrary to that, there is a clear evidence (Figure 6) that the carbon bers at the bottom-ply exhibited only a pure elastic behavior under the protruding tool-tip or the so-called drill chisel edge in case of drilling the selected CFRP material. The elastic bulge was seen continuously revolving i.e., changing its shape in-phase with the drill revolutions during its feed. Finally, at around t 0.08480 s, the very rst macrocracks were observed along the shown intersticea slit of resin between the shown two adjacent warps. An interstice is always a matrix- or resin-rich region, and therefore, it is too weak to sustain drilling loads, when compared to that borne by stronger carbon bers prior to their (ber) own failure. This type of crack was proposed by authors DiPaolo et al. as possibly of Mode-I type.[2]

The observation made in the footage, as compiled in Figure 6 above, preliminarily revealed that the location of the very initial macrocracks at the bottom-most ply of the selected woven CFRP laminate depends very much on the actual or exact chisel edge position relative to any nearest neighboring interstitial region etc. This argument will be further supported with the evidence taken from another video footage, results of which have been compiled in Figure 7 as follows. In Figure 7, under the given drilling conditions, in between the reference drilling time instant t 0 and 0.02467 s, a very small, cyclic, and partial appearance, as marked by the white arrow, of the cutting edge was observed. Black arrows mark the elastic bulging/impression of the main cutting edge on the carbon bers at the bottom-ply. When noticed, this location of the initial macrofractureswhere that small part of the cutting edge seems to be protruding through as shown by the white arrowis quite offset to the actual or ideal central position of the shown drill-hole, as shown via the dashed black circle with two white cross-diagonals depicting the ideal hole centerpoint location. In other words, the true center of the attacking chisel edge itself could not appear breaking through the shown bottom-most ply during several drill revolutions during the aforementioned time-span. It was merely due to the actual presence or the exact true location of the initial macrofailures in the carbon bers or their bundles which were overhanging like small cantilevers and were covering the said central region of the drill chisel edge, during the shown sub-completion drilling-phase. The reason is explained as follows. These cracks or fractures were initially seen along the ber/matrix interface similarly to what has been discussed just previously as for Figure 6. These cracks spalled the shown

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Fig. 7. Location of the initial carbon ber failures (dependency of their vicinity to a nearest neighboring interstitial or undulated region).

warp bers longitudinally, propagating to the nearest situated, neighboring ber-crossovers, or the so-called undulated regions. As asserted already above in this article [i.e., the proposed visual model as illustrated in Figure 3(b)], at an undulated or interstitial region of a cured bulk laminate, ber-bundles are already under residual tensile stresses, supposedly owing to their bends or the undulation. Therefore, it was observed in the footage and as shown in Figure 7 that the carbon bers or ber-bundles of the shown warp region failed right at the neighboring interstitial region which was situated slightly offset to the true or ideal center of that drill-hole, unlike there in case of the drilling of metals and other conventional materials. The push-down forces exerted by the drill-feed motion possibly gave rise to the tension which the carbon bers were already suffering from, at that interstitial region, leading to their eventual failures. In addition, another common observation (Figure 7) is that that a majority of the failures in the ber-bundles at the bottom-ply covered within the drill-hole nominal area during a sub-completion drilling phase, i.e., when the hole is not fully drilled or nished yet, appeared to be propagating roughly in true linear tracks, as can be seen at t 0.12827 s, and onwards as well. The cracks propagated initially along the ber/matrix interfaces (spalling) and translated further to the neighboring main interstitial and undulated regions with ber-crossovers, which were intersecting their way there. This macroscopic crack propagation pattern is more clearly evident in the observations from the interval t 0.21493 s and onwards until

t 0.33733 s. Some of them are pointed out by the white and black arrows in the same gure. The macrocracks were observed as propagating further via next neighboring weaker paths available to them, quite in a similar fashion within the nominal drill-hole area, the visual model for which has already been proposed, explained and illustrated as above in Figure 2. The cracks were observed propagating further until a whole warp or a weft ber-bundle got detached, evidence for which will also be provided later on in Figure 9. Generally, in the acquired video footages, main macrofracture types were identied as: Mode-I at an interstice and that observed in carbon bers due to dominant tensile loading, and Mode-III through a ber/matrix interface, details of which may be consulted in the work of DiPaolo et al.[2] This entire phenomenon heavily depends on the actual or true location or position of the drill-hole relative to the woven conguration of the bottom-most ply of the selected composite laminate, i.e., the alignment and the geometry of its various warps and wefts, etc. In another case, as shown in Figure 8, at t 0.09973 s, the linear-shaped macrofailures in the carbon bers and also along their ber/matrix interfacesemphasized via the shown white-colored vertical dotted-line at the shown point (a) within the marked white rectangular box covering the entire perimeter of the shown weft (or say ll) region under studyare not emanating from any neighboring interstitial or undulated regions. This is mainly due to a relatively greater displacement between the nearest neighboring interstitial/

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Fig. 8. Transverse occurrence of macrober-bundle failures when the chisel edge breakthrough-point position is nearly at the center of the marked weft (i.e., far from an interstitial/ undulated region nearby).

undulated region and the actual breakthrough-point position or location of the drill chisel edge which, in this case, is almost at the true central portion of the said weft. The tensile macrofailures in bers traversed again in a linear track along the marked vertical dotted-line to reach the two interstices across, i.e., situated at the two horizontal banks of the shown weft, as marked by the white and the black arrows, respectively, at the same drilling time instant. From t 0 s until t 0.05600 s, the same pure elastic bulging behavior of the carbon bers, the occurrence of the very rst macrober/ matrix interface cracks are also discernible, as discussed previously for Figure 6. In Figure 8, at t 0.25013 s, relatively bulkier powdery chips were also observed, mainly due to the chosen higher feedrate value. In Figure 9, at t 0 s, the main drill cutting edge revolves counter-clockwise to approach and to attack the uncut, spalled rectangular-shaped weft ber-bundles, which are seen overhanging like a real cantilever as marked by the white arrow there. The gure shows the same sub-completion drillingphase, during which the hole is not nished yet. At t 0.00120 s, the approaching cutting edge just touches the said cantilever weft ber-bundles. At t 0.00200 s, the attacked weft is seen as bent and pushed away from the position where it was initially attached to. This position is an interstitial point region. At t 0.00227 s, the weft bundle is pushed away further and is just about to release from its attachment (base) point, i.e., the said interstitial point.

Onwards at t 0.00253 s, the said weft got already separated from its base and can be seen ying away as captured in the white circles, shown also at t 0.00280 s. This was also a major observation of the chipping-off or the separation of the ber-bundles of the warps/wefts bundles at the bottommost ply of the selected woven CFRP laminate, during a sub-completion drilling-phase. The said spalled, overhanging carbon ber-bundle (chip) was attacked periodically by the revolving two cutting edges within the hole nominal-area as long as it was chipped off from its base, i.e., after t 0.00227 s. 2.2. Tiny Localized Delamination Contours, and the Cantilever-Like Flexibility of the Uncut Fiber-Bundles under Cyclic Impacts of the Drill Bit Main Cutting Edges Figure 10 depicts the preliminary results of the various individual tiny, localized delamination patterns or contours and also their respective propagation around a drill-hole at the bottom-most laminate-ply, at various drilling-time instants, during the shown sub-completion drilling-phase, under the given drilling conditions. At t 0.06747 s, the two white arrows mark the two of the aforementioned localized delamination contours. They propagated further as marked by the two white and one black arrows, respectively, at t 0.09267 s, with the drill-feed to translate to the next available interstitial or undulated regions. By referring back to Figure 8, the presence or initiation of such elliptic-shaped delamination, localized within a single warp or a weft, is also

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Fig. 9. Separation of a whole rectangular weft from an interstitial point within the nominal drill-hole area (sub-completion drilling phase). Fig. 10. Various tiny, localized exit delamination contours at the bottom-most ply during a sub-completion drilling-phase.

10

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Fig. 11. A spalled, overhanging carbon ber-bundle being removed from its initial position (A) by the cutting edge corner (nal drilling phase).

Fig. 12. The detached bundle of the previous Figure 11 now chipped off from its previous position (A) but still attached to its adjacent uncut warp bundle at position (B)localized delamination forms are also marked by the white and black arrows.

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noticeable, marked by point (a) at the drilling time instant of t 0.09973 s. The aforementioned observations were made in the footages when the drill had not completed or nished the hole nominal diameter at the bottom-ply. Now, another important observation concerning the mutual bonding of the two different but adjacent carbon ber-bundles (say warps) at the bottom-most laminate-ply during the ending drillingphase will be discussed via Figure 11 and 12, respectively. In Figure 11, at the considered very initial drilling time reference of t 0 s, the white arrow marks the spalled warp ber-bundle overhanging at its very initial or base position, marked at the point (A). At t 0.00040 s, the attacking outer cutting edge corner of the drill bit touches that spalled overhanging ber-bundle. At t 0.00080 s, the revolving cutting edge is pushing or bending it. At t 0.00133 s and onwards until t 0.00173 s, that ber-bundle is detached and separated from its base or origin, being sheared away by the cutting edge corner as shown at t 0.00213 s. Figure 12 follows Figure 11 in the sequence of incidences for the same drilling test-run. In Figure 12, at t 0.00267 s, the white circle marks the new position of the same warp ber-bundle seen fully bent by the revolving main cutting edge. This is due to the contact friction or reaction of the secondary (minor) cutting edge passing over it. Onwards, i.e., from t 0.00307 s until t 0.00347 s, respectively, the same ber-bundle springs back toward the drill-hole area due to its cantilever-like elasticity effect. It is seen at a new position, because by then, i.e., at t 0.00427 s, the secondary cutting edge has had already traveled past it. Finally, from t 0.00453 s until at t 0.00600 s, the same warp-bundle can be seen still attached at a new position (B) and is now overhanging inward the hole again, marked by the dashed white circles. The drill is retrieving back at t 0.00600 s, as shown. The difference between both of its locations can be compared now by referring back to the previous gure (i.e., at t 0 s in Figure 11). The former ber-bundle under consideration did not y off, yet being chipped off; as it was seen at a new position being still bonded to its adjacent warp ber-bundle which itself was attached to the bottom-ply at (B). This latter bundle could not actually fully be separated by the main cutting edges of the shown drill bit, hence both were hanging freely inwards as shown, in the form of a single lump being attached at the new base-point (B), i.e., the base-position of the latter one which is in fact beyond the hole-nominal diameter. In drilling GFRP epoxy laminates, the importance of a drill cutting edge and corners with regard to its delamination results has quite recently been highlighted by Faraz et al.[17] Ko nig and Gra[10] earlier also stated that that during the drilling process of FRPs, owing to a greater cutting edge rounding magnitude of a drill bit when compared with that of the individual bers, bending of bers takes place, instead of their pure shearing or cutting. Therefore, it is asserted here too that the observed failures of carbon bers were predominantly due to the tensile and the exural loads

(not shearing) exerted by the drill main cutting edges and its corner. To some extent, the evidence in Figure 11 and 12 also supports this argument. Had the selected tools been made sharp enough, which is not the usual case because the chosen cutting material is cemented carbide, they would have sheared the individual carbon bers straight away, instead of pulling and dragging (due to contact friction) the whole ber-bundle that remained attached to its neighboring bundlewhich itself could also not be cleanly cut and hence remained attached to its base-position (B). In another research, Faraz et al.[18] have also stressed the need and importance of quantifying the cutting edge rounding magnitude of the carbide drill bits, in the same context, during drilling of the same CFRP workpiece material.[9] It also depends on the exact geometry and, similarly, the exact location of any particular spalled or frayed ber-bundle, which is under attack, as to whether it would be removed (cut), or otherwise, would remain intact to its base, afterwards still. Its true location stands for its relative displacement from any nearest neighboring interstitial or the undulated region. And this is mainly because the carbon bers are more vulnerable to failure at those regions, as explained already above via the proposed visual model [Figure 3(b)] of the current research. Figure 9 showed one of the related examples of the spalled carbon ber-bundle which was nally detached from its interstitial region where it was initially attached to. As observed in Figure 10 above, the same localized, tiny contours of the divided exit delamination and their individual propagation are also clearly depicted in Figure 12. The white and black arrows (Figure 12) mark the said tiny contours within the shown two adjacent wefts, at the given drilling time instants. Another similar example of the cyclic impacts of the cutting edge on some uncut, spalled groups of carbon bers in the captured footages will be discussed via the results as compiled in Figure 13. They were observed as to be actually overhanging (delaminated) from a position that was outside the hole nominal diameter, during drilling at the bottom-most laminate-ply at the very nal drilling-phase. These cantileverlike, frayed carbon ber groups were observed as swinging back and forth, periodically along with the drill-revolutions, and could not be sheared or cut due to their base-position beyond the hole nominal diameter. In Figure 13, at t 0.00093 s, the overhanging frayed bers, as marked by the white arrow, are attacked by the revolving cutting edge approaching toward them. At t 0.00213 s, they are bent and pushed outwards, partly being rubbed by the minor cutting edge of the drill bit. At t 0.00307 s, the cutting edge has gone past the rst group of the frayed bers which can be seen as now springing back toward their initial position, owing to their inherent elasticity. Meanwhile, the same cutting edge now approaches to engage the next group (marked by the second white arrow below). And at t 0.00440 s, the same behavior was revealed for the second group of bers in the footage, too. Until at t 0.00573 s, both groups of the frayed, overhanging carbon bers are seen back at their respective

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Fig. 13. Elastic cantilever-like, spalled/frayed carbon bres overhanging into the hole, while being attached from beyond the hole nominal diameter, i.e. the radial locations where the cutting angle range is approximately: 908 u 1358(458).

initial overhanging state (stationary), remained uncut still. This exible, cantilever-like behavior of the uncut bers was repeatedly observed onwards in the footage with several drill revolutions, until the drill retrieved back nally, after accomplishing its feed-stroke. 2.3. Analysis of Various Cutting Angle Congurations at the Bottom-Most Ply In this section, the observations of exit damage around a drill-hole periphery concerning the three principal orthogonal cutting angle ranges,[13] at the bottom-most ply during the very nal drilling-phase, will be discussed. Ko nig and Gra also related this aspect, generally, for the drilling process of FRPs.[10] But, their limited explanation cannot be compared with the reference work of Wang et al.[13] DiPaolo et al. correlated instantaneous loads (thrust and torque) with various ber congurations during drilling of the selected UD CFRP laminates.[2] But they did not also draw any concrete conclusion regarding the hole exit delamination quality and the instantaneous cutting angle, during drilling UD reinforced composites. As asserted earlier in this research, where the relevant visual model was proposed and described [Figure 4(a)], the nature of the exit delamination or such damages in any particular hole-exit peripheral zone at the bottom-most ply of woven CFRP laminate might also strongly depend on the classication of the cutting angle range, and the resulting cutting mechanism occurring over there. The very

nal drilling-phase is the moment during which the outer cutting edge corners of a drill bit are nishing the nominal hole diameter and are revolving almost at the same level as that of the bottom-ply of the workpiece. Therefore, referring back to Figure 13 and correlating it generally with Figure 4, the frayed ber-overhangs were found approximately at those radial hole-exit peripheral locations where a cutting angle range of about 908 u 1358(458) might roughly be identied. This range corresponds to the Case-III cutting mechanism of the reference Wang et al.,[13] as reproduced already above in Figure 4(b). This particular type of the cutting angle range or the resulting cutting mechanism produced severe trimming damages on the edge surface of the selected UD graphite epoxy laminates in their work, too. On the other hand, relatively much cleaner cuts were observed across those radial, hole peripheral regions in this research, where a corresponding range of about 08 u 458could approximately be identied. This range corresponds to the Case-I and -II of the orthogonal cutting conguration of ref.[13]; for which, much cleaner cuts were observed. It was also examined as illustrated in Figure 14 that the same range(s) for the instantaneous cutting angle u, as described just above for Figure 13, hold also true for the observed many different spalled overhanging ber-bundles, and also similarly for the observed neatly cut radial peripheral regions of the shown drill-hole. On behalf of this crude analysis, it may be inferred here that in drilling holes in the

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mechanical loads, similar to what was carried out by Wang et al.,[13] in order to draw some concrete conclusions regarding the proposed visual model i.e., the examined instantaneous cutting angle ranges and their resulting effect on drill-hole quality (delamination) during the drilling process of the selected CFRP laminates etc., is beyond the scope of this research. 3. Research Summary, Conclusions, and Outlook In this paper, an in situ inspection of the initiation and the onset of the hole exit delamination at the bottom-most ply during drilling the selected woven epoxy CFRP laminates is presented. Contrary to what is usually found in case of the drilling of metals, a fully elastic behavior (revolving bulge) of the carbon bers at the bottom-ply of the selected laminates was always initially observed. The protruded elastic bulge was always observed as to be revolving along with the drill chisel edge revolutions, prior to the very initial macrofractures. Two types of the preliminary macrocracks were identied at the bottom-ply: initial fractures produced along the ber/matrix interface, i.e., longitudinally between the free oating bers of a single weft or warp, founded on their mutual weaker adhesion; followed by the macrotensile failures of the carbon bers, traveling in linear paths, transverse to their own alignment within the same warp or weft. The initiation of the very rst tensile failures/fractures of the carbon bers at the bottom-ply strongly depends on their exact vicinity or the neighborhood, i.e., the relative displacement between the crack initiation location and the nearest neighboring interstitial or the undulated region. It is asserted in this research that the interstitial and the undulated regions are usually the matrix-rich weaker regions, where, presumably, the carbon bers are already suffering from residual tensile loads, apparently due to their undulation state and bend-geometry within the selected, cured woven fabric laminate. Basically, linear-shape (slit-like) cracks were mostly observed, which propagated through various linear, weaker paths available to them, during a sub-completion drillingphase. The cracks were seen translating further to various neighboring interstitial or undulated regions in the same pattern until a complete or a spalled warp or weft ber-bundle got detached or chipped off from the bottom-most ply. It was also observed that some ber-bundles remained attached to their adjacent bundles which were actually found still intact to the bottom-ply being uncut, mainly depending on their geometry and their radial location across the drill-hole periphery. A very common observation made in the footages was that that the delamination, in general, always appeared to be divided into several tiny, localized independent portions, all of which traveled or propagated through various individual warps or wefts almost independently, until reaching the next encountering carbon bers-crossovers, or the so-called undulated regions intersecting their way. Due to a relatively larger size of the individual warp or weft of the selected

Fig. 14. Uncut, overhanging weft-bundle identied at instantaneous cutting angle of about u % 458.

selected woven epoxy CFRP, apart from the chosen drilling conditions, the nal quality of the hole exit delamination or uncut bers at the bottom-ply observed at any particular radial peripheral region may also signicantly depend on the type and nature of the actual tool/ber mutual contact situation, or in other words, the occurring instantaneous cutting angle conguration, and its resulting cutting mechanism involved therein. Various instantaneous cutting angle magnitudes or their ranges, and the resulting cutting mechanisms across the hole-exit periphery at the bottom-ply of a woven composite (especially like the one as selected in this research), do heavily depend on one major fact: the actual or true geometric location and positioning of the drill-hole, relative to the woven conguration of the bottom-ply, i.e., the geometry and alignment of all the warps and the wefts relative to that drill-hole. In other words, the occurrence or the presence of a particular instantaneous cutting angle value and the resulting conguration/mechanism present at a particular peripheral region of one hole (say the reference hole) might never be guaranteed again in the identical corresponding peripheral region of any other hole drilled in the same workpiece, unless and until the same hole-positioning, with respect to the woven conguration of the workpiece material at the bottom-ply, is absolutely identically ensured, or repeated ideally. It is equally important to emphasize here at the end, as also quoted in ref.[9], that the macroscopic determination or approximation of a particular instantaneous cutting angle conguration at a particular radial peripheral region of the drill-hole right at the bottom-ply, and the determination of the instantaneous alignment and tool/ber mutual contact and engagement condition with respect to the woven conguration of the bottom-ply, this all demands immense attention and care. No major contrary variations were observed in the results regarding this particular nding, in this research. An investigation on the chip formation and that on the process

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woven CFRP composite, shape of an individual delamination contour was practically identied as elliptic, as usually found for the case of the UD FRP composites. A spalled or frayed ber-bundle may completely be removed all of a sudden; or otherwise, it may remain partially attached to the bottommost ply at an undulated region, apparently depending on its locality and also on the geometry and strength of the ber/ matrix interface present over there. Moreover, the spalled overhanging ber-bundles, if remained uncut, were always seen swinging back and forth like a pure exible cantilever beam, continuously, due to the cyclic collisions of the two revolving drill lips. And this was just because their origin (attachment- or base-point of such overhanging ber-bundles) was observed beyond the nominal diameter of the hole being drilled, at the bottom-ply, making them really hard to cut, owing to their exible cantilever-like behavior. It was also examined at the end of the presented experimental observations that the occurrence or presence of the hole exit delamination or any such damage at any particular radial location of a drill-hole at the bottom-ply may also strongly depend on the nature and characteristics of the instantaneous cutting angle range present or involved over there. The involved cutting mechanism is based on a process variable, which has been dened as the instantaneous cutting angle in this researchthe values or the range of which might also approximately reect the hole quality. After having a crude macroscopic judgement, the exit damage (spalling and ber-overhangs, etc.) was found to be more severe across those radial peripheral regions of a drill-hole at the bottom-ply of the selected woven CFRP laminate, where an unsuitable cutting angle conguration/ mechanism for the orthogonal trimming of UD laminates is reported in the reference literature. However, it is also strongly recommended that a separate study is absolutely compulsory which should address some substantial analytical and experimental aspects of this particular nding. This would help researchers, in future, to comprehend the qualitative aspects of the hole exit delamination in drilling the selected woven CFRP composites. It would certainly help them also further in dening some novel, suitable strategies and approaches as essential for the analytical modeling and FEM simulations, etc. for the drilling processes of the chosen woven CFRP types.

Received: November 10, 2012 Final Version: December 21, 2012

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