CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 85–88

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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Investigations on the thermal workpiece distortion in MQL deep hole

drilling of an aluminium cast alloy
D. Biermann (2)*, I. Iovkov
Institute of Machining Technology, TU Dortmund University, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Dry machining is frequently applied in cutting operations, in order to reduce the energy consumption and
Deep hole drilling
the production costs. In deep hole drilling operations minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is used to
Thermal effects
obtain a reliable chip evacuation, since completely dry machining is not feasible. Due to the low cooling
Compensation
effect of MQL, the drilling process generates a high thermal load on the workpiece, which leads to
thermally induced workpiece deformations. This paper presents fundamental experimental investiga-
tions on the workpiece temperature, the resulting in-process deformations and the achievable
straightness accuracy of the borehole. The investigations focus on two different strategies for enhancing
the deep hole drilling using MQL. Initially, a high-feed process guiding is introduced, in order to obtain a
higher productivity and to reduce the heat input into the workpiece. The second approach is a novel radial
spindle compensation, which performs a directional control of the straightness deviation of the deep hole.
ß 2015 CIRP.

1. Introduction deviations of the machined component [13]. Former investigations

indicated the major influence of the feed on the resulting
Deep hole drilling methods are applied in the metalworking temperature of the machined component [14,15]. Hence, the
industry when the length-to-diameter ratio of a hole to be machined presented research aims at the reducing of the thermal workpiece
is higher than l/D  8,. . .,10 [1]. For these processes, twist drills load using an extremely high feed. Furthermore, a new technique for
provide advantages with regard to the achievable productivity. The directional guiding of the deep hole drilling tool is introduced, in
symmetrical double cutting edge design allows higher feed rates in order to realise a directed straightness deviation control.
comparison to the conventional single-lip deep hole drilling tools.
Furthermore, the positive helix angle of the flutes assists the chip 2. Experimental set-up
evacuation by facilitating a chip motion opposite to the feed
direction, according to the principle of the Archimedes’ screw. The material used in the investigations is the aluminium alloy
Contrariwise, the double-edged set-up leads to a reduced cross EN AC-46000, which is applied in the automotive industry for
section of the flutes compared to the single-lip drilling tool [2,3]. engine and gearbox housing components. The experiments were
Due to the increasing energy costs, modern machining processes carried out on a 4-axis machining centre GROB BZ600 using a
require a continuous improvement with respect to their energy special internal three-channel MQL supply device with an
consumption. The MQL method has the potential for decreasing the increased operating pressure of pMQL = 15 bar. The experimental
total energy consumption of the production process [3–5], set-up is shown in Fig. 1, including the measurement equipment
considering the savings of procurement, service and recycling costs for the determination of the process forces and the deformations of
of the conventional coolant. Furthermore, the complete cooling
lubricant unit and the corresponding relatively high energy
consumption can be reduced [6–8]. However, MQL provides not
only improvements, but yields a set of requirements and technolog-
ical challenges for the cutting process [9,10]. Drilling of aluminium
under MQL conditions, particularly deep hole drilling, is challenging
because of the high adhesion affinity of this material and the reduced
chip removal performance of compressed air used as carrier medium
in MQL [11,12]. Furthermore, the increased heat input into
the workpiece generates thermally induced deformations and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: biermann@isf.maschinenbau.uni-dortmund.de (D. Biermann). Fig. 1. Experimental set-up including the measurement equipment.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.072
0007-8506/ß 2015 CIRP.
86 D. Biermann, I. Iovkov / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 85–88

the machined component. The workpiece temperature was

measured by an infrared (IR) camera on its upper surface, which
was pre-treated with a camera interior painting spray to provide a
thin-film coating with a known emission coefficient of e  0.98. An
additional shield tube (not shown in the figure) was applied to
exclude the environmental radiation [16].
A long slot in the workpiece allows the thermal expansion of the
upper, machined component area, independent from the clamping
zone and provides symmetric thermal boundary conditions around
the drilled hole. To machine the centrically applied drill holes,
uncoated solid carbide twist drills with a diameter of d = 10 mm
and a total length of lt = 360 mm were used. The length of the
polished flutes of lf  320 mm allows a maximum drilling depth of
lmax  300 mm, which was realised in the investigations. A suitable
pilot drilling tool was used to generate a pilot hole with a depth of
l = 30 mm. The cutting speed of vc = 175 m/min was kept constant
within the investigations.

3. High-feed deep hole drilling

Fig. 3. Mechanical (a) and thermal load (b) for different final feeds.
3.1. Fundamental investigations

The experiments under high-feed conditions were carried out
in the feed range between f = 1 mm and f = 4 mm using optimised
tools with an adapted cutting edge and web thickness design. Due
to the expected extremely high mechanical load, the final feed was
not applied from the beginning of the drilling process. According to
a reference experiment with a feed of fref = 0.3 mm, an initial feed
of finit = 0.3 mm is used within the initial feeding length of
linit = 50 mm behind the pilot hole in order to ensure a good
guidance of the deep hole drilling tool. In addition, a ramped
increase of the feed over a length of lramp = 50 mm was
implemented to reduce the impact load on the drill. Fig. 2a shows
the resulting feed increase curves over the drilling depth and the
great enhancement of the material removal rate compared to
conventional drilling. This is also illustrated by the resulting
decrease of the machining time th (Fig. 2b). In case of the highest
final feed fend = 4 mm the corresponding drilling depth of
lend = 170 mm could be machined within th < 0.5 s.
the machining time and the resulting total energy consumption of
the process decrease. The reference process with f = 0.3 mm
requires an active energy of Ea  19.3 kJ and a corresponding feed
energy of only Ef  0.22 kJ.
The higher amount of heat flowing into the chips, the reduced
energy consumption and the shorter contact time of the high-feed
process lead to a generally decreased heat input into the workpiece
in comparison to the reference experiment (Fig. 3b). Due to the
balance between the higher heat flux and the shorter machining
time when increasing the feed, the thermal load on the workpiece
remains for all high feed values nearly constant.
The in-process workpiece deformations and the resulting
straightness deviation of the drilled holes are shown in Fig. 4.
Due to the defined workpiece geometry, the thermomechanical
deformations are negligible in x-direction. Thus, the significant
deflection in y-direction is analysed with regard to both the
thermal and the mechanical loads (Fig. 4a). The remaining
thermal deformation uth after all high-feed drilling processes is
nearly on the same level of uth  70 mm. The non-thermal elastic
component of the workpiece deflection umech is represented
by the spring-back of the machined part after the process
ends. It correlates with the increasing feed force with higher
feed rates.

Fig. 2. Investigated feeds over the drilling depth and resulting material removal rate
(a); calculated machining time (b).

Fig. 3 summarises the mechanical loads and the resulting

workpiece temperatures for the investigated feed rates. The feed
force and the drilling torque are increasing distinctly with higher
feed rates. They reach mean values of Ff  8 kN and Md = 30 N m
when drilling with a feed of fend = 4 mm. The calculated machining Fig. 4. In-process workpiece deformation (a); resulting straightness deviation of the
time (cf. Fig. 2b) equates not exactly the real time measured in the drilled hole (b) for different final feed rates.

experiments. The discrepancy of approximately t = 0.1 s can be

explained by the acceleration behaviour of the feed drive. In
contrast to conventional drilling processes the feed energy in high-
feed drilling is not negligible compared to the cutting energy. For
example, the highest feed of f = 4 mm generates a feed energy of
Ef  1.7 kJ and a cutting energy of Ec  14 kJ. Generally, the
required feed and cutting power correlate with the feed force
and the drilling torque. Hence, the active power, required by the
process, increases when drilling with a higher feed. However, both
The straightness deviation is defined as the location error of the
drilled hole exit, relative to the entry position. Generally, it
decreases for the feeds of fend = 1 mm and fend = 2 mm because of
the reduced thermal load and the moderate force level. When
applying the highest feed of fend = 4 mm, the resulting straightness
deviation increases remarkably to a value of my  0.6 mm. With
regard to the measured temperature (Fig. 3b) and the in-process
deformation of the workpiece, this high deviation results from the
 D. Biermann, I. Iovkov / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 85–88
elastic distortion of the workpiece and is not caused by thermal
expansion effects of the component.
3.2. Influence of the feed increase strategy
According to the feed increase method used in the feed
variation presented in Section 3.1 (strategy A), two additional
strategies B and C were developed in order to analyse the influence
of the feed increase ramp on the deep-hole drilling process. These
three strategies (A, B and C) start with a constant feed of
finit = 0.3 mm/rev to a depth of l = 80 mm and differ only in the
length of the feed ramp used to increase the feed to the final value
of fend = 2 mm/rev (Fig. 5a). Furthermore, a fourth strategy
excluding the low feed section at the beginning of the deep-hole
drilling process (strategy D) was developed to investigate the
influence of the initial guiding of the tool. Thereby the feed increase
ramp starts at the beginning of the deep-hole drilling process,
directly behind the pilot hole. The resulting machining time
depends on the strategy, but even the longest process using
strategy C of tC = 3.86 s is more than 2.5 times shorter than the
reference main time of tref = 9.7 s (Fig. 5b).
Fig. 5. Feed increase strategies (a); calculated machining time (b).
Generally, the mechanical load correlates with the actual feed
in the corresponding drilling depth and attains mean values of
Ff  3.8 kN and Md  17.3 N m after reaching the final feed
(Fig. 6a). The energy consumption of the process corresponds to
the machining time. Thus, the long ramp strategy C requires the
highest active work, and strategy D consumes the lowest amount
of energy. Due to the long high-feed sector of strategy D and the
missing initial low-feed range in this process, the cutting work
decreases compared to the other strategies (Fig. 6a).
The behaviour of the workpiece temperature (Fig. 6b) is
analogue to the observations of the energy consumption. In
Fig. 6. Mechanical (a) and thermal load (b) depending on the strategy.
87
comparison to the reference process, the long-ramp strategy C
generates a reduced heat input into the workpiece, but the highest
thermal impact compared to the other approaches. This effect
corresponds to the lower feed of strategy C, which generates also a
different isotherm shape compared to the strategies A, B and D. The
centre of the thermogram image is located at a drilling depth of
l = 212.5 mm, where the process referred to strategy C attains a
feed of f  1.35 mm. The strategies A, B and D have already reached
their final feed of fend = 2 mm when passing the measuring field of
the IR-camera. Nevertheless, there is a significant difference
between the strategies with an initial low-feed zone (A/B) and the
approach D without this sector. The high thermal load accumulat-
ed in the initial low feed stage of the strategies A and B (drilling
depth l = 30,. . .,80 mm) is conducted through the workpiece and
can be detected even in the measuring drilling depth of
l = 195,. . .,230 mm (Fig. 6b). Due to the missing low feed range
and hence the low initial heat input, strategy D generates the
lowest workpiece temperature.
The resulting workpiece deflection is presented in Fig. 7a and
reaches nearly equal final values for all strategies. In contrast, the
resulting straightness deviation corresponds to the guiding and
the ramp length of the applied approach (Fig. 7b). The direct
comparison between strategies A and B shows that the feed
increase ramp has a significant influence on the magnitude of the
straightness deviation in high-feed deep hole drilling. The lowest
deviation could be achieved by strategy C, where the smooth
increase of the feed produces a low thermal load and a low force
level as well, particularly in the front of the machined hole, where
the straightness deviation is initialised.
Fig. 7. In-process workpiece deformation (a); resulting straightness deviation of the
drilled hole (b) for different feed increase strategies.
4. Directional control of the straightness deviation
In conventional drilling (Fig. 8a) the tool axis is coincident to the
axis of the drilled hole. In order to realise a controlled correction of
the drilling direction and thus to compensate systematic
straightness deviations, a novel approach using an additional
radial feeding path of the machine tool’s spindle was developed
(Fig. 8b). Due to the tapered guiding chamfers, which are present
only in the front area of the drilling tool, it is possible to perform a
small directional correction of the tool by a radial displacement of
the tool holder, leaving the original drilling axis. The bending
Fig. 8. Conventional drilling (a) and concept for directional control of the
straightness deviation using a radial spindle compensation path (b).
88 D. Biermann, I. Iovkov / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 85–88
Fig. 9. Resulting straightness deviation my of drilled holes using varied trapezoidal
functions of the radial compensation path uy.
flexibility of the standard solid carbide twist drill used for this
investigation of d  0.2175 mm/N was determined at the cutting
edge by a measurement of the deflection when applying a radial
force of Frad = 10 N. Due to the helix angle of the tool, the bending
stiffness does not depend on the measuring direction in the
transverse plane. In contrast, the single-lip drill has a different
bending stiffness, which can cause undesired vibration effects. In
addition to the taper angle of the guiding chamfers, the radial
clearance between the drilling tool and the machined hole has to
be considered. The difference between the hole with d = 10 mm
and the tool shaft behind the guiding chamfers with d = 9.5 mm
results in a constant radial clearance of uc = 0.25 mm, but the limit
for the maximal radial displacement of the spindle urad decreases
by higher drilling depth due to the risk of collision. Considering the
existent radial clearance uc, the maximum radial spindle respec-
tively tool holder displacement for a tool with an exposed length
lexp can be calculated by the rule of proportion umax
l = uc
ldrill.
Applying the introduced approach and considering the
presented limitations, different strategies for the radial compen-
sation path of the spindle were analysed. Due to the given
experimental set-up, the thermal expansion and the resulting
straightness deviations occur particularly in positive y-direction.
Therefore, the compensation strategies concentrate on radial paths
directed in positive y-direction as well. The generated tool
deflection works in an inverse manner and directs the straightness
deviation in the opposite y-direction. The initially investigated
triangle functions for the radial path along the drilling depth
achieved a good compensation effect, but relatively poor
reproducibility of the obtained straightness deviations. However,
a further improvement could be realised by modifying the initial
triangle function to a strategy with a linear compensation length.
The results for the resulting trapezoidal function of the radial
compensation path are presented in Fig. 9. The straightness
deviations could be guided reliably to the required direction and
the amount of the resulting effect correlates with the surface area
of the compensation function. The trapezium strategy A with an
area of AA = 25 mm2 generates a straightness deviation of
my  0.3 mm. The increased amplitude of strategy C and the
longer maximum value range of strategy B result in approximately
identical surface areas of AB  AC  40 mm2 and produce repeat-
able straightness deviations of my  0.4,. . .,0.5 mm.
5. Conclusions and outlook
The presented fundamental investigations demonstrate the
feasibility of the high-feed deep hole drilling of aluminium die cast
alloys using MQL. The heat input into the workpiece could be
significantly reduced using increased feed values of f = 1,. . .,4 mm,
which corresponds to the higher heat removal by the chips and the
generally decreased energy consumption of the cutting process.
The best performance, considering the thermal load, the time
saving and the resulting straightness of the machined holes, could
be achieved using a long-ramped feed increase strategy with an
initial low-feed guiding drilling depth.
Furthermore, a novel deep-hole drilling strategy for the
reproducible compensation of straightness deviation was intro-
duced. The superimposed radial feed motion path leads to a
repeatable directional control of the drilled hole straightness.
Further research work will focus on the simulative prediction of
the workpiece deviations and the compensation of the straightness
deviations occurring in deep hole drilling situations of thin-walled
components.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of the German Research
Foundation (DFG) for funding this research within the project
BI498/24-3 in the framework of the Priority Programme 1480.
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