Numerical simulation on friction drilling of aluminum alloy.

Friction drilling is a chipless hole-making process that utilizes a rotating conical drilling tool to penetrate and create a hole and bushing without generating chip. This process is still not widely used even though it has many significant advantages. There are unanswered questions in finite element models to analyze the stress, temperature and large deformation of the workpiece and to predict the drilled hole and formation of bushing. With modern computing technologies the numerical simulation has proven to be an effective tool for this issue. In the present study, a three-dimensional finite element model (FEM) has been developed to simulate the stress, plastic strain and temperature distribution in friction drilling of aluminum alloy. The friction drilling process was experimentally conducted using a drilling tool without flutes. The numerical results indicated that high stress occurs at the tool contact surface and adjacent region in the primary penetration. It was confirmed that the distribution of stress and temperature demonstrate the phenomenon of friction heat and softens the work-material in friction drilling. The numerical simulated results have proven that the developed finite element model is effective to predict stress evolutions and thermal histories in friction drilling of non-ferrous material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]