Orbital drilling goes mainstream for the Dreamliner

Boeing and Novator worked together to overcome the obstacles of drilling holes into new material combinations being used in next-gen aircraft.

New materials and material pairings such as composites and titanium combinations currently being designed into aircraft have proven to be very challenging in the drilling of holes during manufacturing and assembly operations. Orbital drilling is a technique that offers a number of advantages over conventional drilling in the assembly of aircraft structures. It is characterized by a tool diameter that is less than the diameter of the hole, a tool cutting edge that is intermittently in contact with the hole edge, small chip formation, and a low thrust force.

Small chips, in combination with a tool diameter less than the hole diameter, allows for efficient chip removal under vacuum. Efficient chip removal, in turn, prevents heat buildup and eliminates the risk for matrix melting in composite materials and heat-affected zones in metals. In addition, it eliminates the risk for chip-induced damage and makes cleaning of structures obsolete.