A Review of Machining Characteristics in Mechanical Drilling of Super Alloys

Super alloys are extensively used in the field of aerospace to manufacture aircraft engine components such as casings, rings, seals, fasteners, turbine blades, vanes, discs, shafts, combustors and general engine hardware. Drilling is a very important process that is mainly used to make a hole in the aircraft engine components. The quality of the drilled whole characteristics is of prime importance in the development of aero-engine components. This study reviews the machiniability of drilling of super alloys during drilling through various aspects such as cutting environment, tool materials and geometry, drilling parameters and their influences on surface roughness, cutting force, tool wear, temperature, surface integrity, and chip morphology. The results indicated that very few studies have been made on the machinability of super alloys during drilling with respect to surface integrity. Further, there is a need to create a multi response optimization in the drilling of super alloys to obtain optimum results of surface integrity, thrust force, temperature, tool wear, surface roughness, and chip morphology.