EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION IN FRICTION DRILLING ON COPPER AND ALUMINIUM COMPONENT BY USING TUNGSTEN CARBIDE TOOL

Mostly used for sheet materials and hollow tubes, friction drilling now becomes a promising process particularly for mass production in the manufacturing and automotive industries. This project investigates comparative analysis of friction drilled holes on Copper and Aluminium by using tungsten carbide tool. Holes have been drilled on AISI 1015 Copper and AISI 1008 Aluminium square tubes by the friction drilling process which utilizes frictional heat between a rotating conical tool and work material to soften and penetrate the thin walled work piece to form a hole with bushing. The bushing increases depth for threading and the clamp load capacity and best suitable for threading. Naturally formed bush during friction drilling have wide range of application in sheet metal operation and increases productivity. The t/d ratio of friction drilled holes and the spindle speed are the two main parameters affecting the process. Experiments have been carried out using Taguchi’s orthogonal array L18. Thermal analysis and Microstructure variation during the friction drilling process are measured and analyzed.