Hole quality and burr reduction in drilling aluminium sheets

Optimization of the metal drilling process requires creation of minimum amount of burrs and uniform appearance of the drilled holes. In this paper, an experimental investigation was performed on 2 mm sheets of wrought aluminium alloy Al99.7Mg0.5Cu-H24, using 1.6 and 2 mm diameter drills. Cutting data, clamping conditions, and drill geometry were varied in order to optimize the process and reach the desired quality. The results revealed possible reduction of burr occurrence on both the entry and exit side of the sheet, requiring no additional deburring. The demand on the uniform appearance of drilled holes was fulfilled as well as high productivity achieved. Such optimized process results in a noticeable production cost reduction.