High Speed Drilling of Al-2024-T3 Alloy

The competitive market has forced the industry to develop methodologies to reduce lead-time of the products without sacrificing quality. One of the major metal removal operations in the aerospace industries is drilling. Over 100,000 holes are made for a small single engine aircraft. Naturally, demand for faster production rate results in the demand for high-speed drilling. But the cost of hole-making operations becomes a significant portion of the total manufacturing cost. This paper discusses the high speed drilling of Al-2024-T3 alloy, the effect of feed and speed on hole quality features like oversize, roundness error, burr height and surface roughness.