Performance Analysis of Various Characteristics on Dry Drilling Hole Quality Of 17-4 PH Stainless Steel with Solid Carbide Drill Bits

Abstract

17-4 PH stainless steel is one of the most imperative grades of precipitation hardened aerospace grade stainless steel particularly used in aircraft, marine vessels, nuclear industries, turbine blades, food processing equipment and oil & gas industry. It belongs to the class of difficult to cut material because of its unique properties such as high strength, high hardness and toughness including good corrosion resistance. The present study deals with comparative analysis of hole quality, surface roughness and chip characteristics when drilling 17-4 PH stainless steel with both uncoated and coated solid carbide drill bits. Dry drilling operation was carried out at two different feed of 0.10 mm/rev and 0.15 mm/rev with a constant spindle speed of 2000 RPM. Results indicated that surface finish and burr thickness could not be improved, while remarkable reduction in hole diameter and delamination factor was noted for the coated solid carbide drill bit compared to its uncoated counterparts for different machining conditions.