Monitoring of drilling for burr detection using spindle torque

This work proposes and evaluates a monitoring method, based on internal signals from spindle torque, to detect non-desired burr formation during drilling operations. Five features of this signal showed to be related to burr height. The selected features were sensitive to the exit burr while comparatively insensitive to changes in process parameters. The experiments were performed in aeronautics aluminium, Al 7075-T6, under dry high speed conditions. A thresholding algorithm has been developed to distinguish if burr height is below or above a previously established onset. The predictability of the developed algorithm is above 92% for the tested range of process parameters. An appropriate implementation of this monitoring system can be used as an effective quality control of drilling operations.