Some investigations in friction drilling AA6351 using high speed steel tools

Friction drilling is a non traditional hole making process in which a conical rotating tool is applied to penetrate into workpiece and create the hole in a single step, without generating chips. The process relies on the heat generated due to the frictional force between tool and workpiece, to soften, penetrate and deform the work material into a bushing shape. The mechanical aspects of friction drilling are investigated in this paper. Aluminum (AA6351) is taken as work material and friction drilling is carried out by high speed steel conical tool. Mathematical models are developed in this work for axial thrust and torque. Proper experimental layout is designed and Taguchi Method is applied to evaluate the performance of high speed steel friction drill on AA6351 work piece of thickness 1mm.