Tribo-Modeling of Drilling Processes

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the wear rate and the temperature distribution of a single-layer TiN coated drill in H13 steel alloy workpiece, with the use of a numerical procedure and through relevant experiments. Simulation models were developed, and an experiment was conducted to evaluate the wear rate, as well as the wear mechanisms and the temperatures appeared during the process of drilling. The finite element method was used to simulate the drilling process. The Usui wear model was used for the drill's wear rate estimation. Temperature measurements were carried out with a thermal imaging camera, and SEM microscopy was also used to characterize the coating's wear. The maximum wear rate of the drill either of flat or for angled simulation setups is near . This value is obtained for maximum tool temperature, which in both cases is close to , however with different distribution within time. The comparative analysis of the simulation models and the experiment show that adhesion is the dominant wear mechanism and the values of the temperature are in good agreement ( difference) between the model and the measurements, even after the process temperature measurement. Because of the good chip evacuation and chip length the coated drills are suitable for drilling tough materials.