Drilling studies on particle board composite using HSS twist drill and spade drill

Composites materials are finding increased application in different engineering fields due to its favorable properties such as light weight, high strength, stiffness, etc. Among the composites, wood based composites are natural composites in which particle board (PB) and medium density fiberboard (MDF), etc., are extensively used in domestic and commercial purposes mainly in wood based furniture. Among different machining processes, drilling is the most generally used machining process in wood working industry for assembly operations and also affects the surface quality, aesthetic appearance and performance of the final product. Delamination at entry and exit sides of a hole, edge chipping, surface damage, etc are the major damages occurs during drilling of PB composites. The surface defects and delamination damages are significantly influenced by different machining particularly drilling parameters and machining environment. Therefore, study of effect of drilling parameters and machining environment on PB composite is an important area and it needs a detailed analysis. Twist drill is a most commonly used drill bit for drilling all materials however spade drill is specially used in drilling PB composite with lower thrust force and torque and spade drills is commonly used drill bit for rough drilling of particle board composite [5]. (paper)