1. INTRODUCTION
One of the actual problems in the manufacturing engineering is related to the assembly of the sheet metals, thin-walled tubes or profiles. These tasks could be performed using Friction Drilling technology, which enable to simplify assembly process and to improve reliability of the joint. Friction drilling is also called Thermal Drilling, Flow Drilling, Form Drilling, or Friction Stir Drilling.
Friction drilling is a non-traditional hole-making method that utilizes the heat generated from friction between a rotating conical tool and the work-piece to soften and penetrate the work-material and generate a hole in a thin-walled work-piece. It forms a bushing in-situ from the thin-walled work-piece and is a clean, chip-less process. The purpose of the bushing is to increase thickness for the threading and available clamp load. Thermal drilling is a process that uses friction to produce bushing in metal tubing and flat stock. It is a process of combined rotational and downward force, which creates frictional heat that can reach 900 c for the tool and 700 c for the work-piece.
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In the conventional method, to attach thin walled material we use bolt and nut, welded nuts, rivets, etc. which all takes time and labour expense also produces waste which can be completely solved by the Friction Drilling technique. The complicated machinery that does those welding and stamping are all get ridden and it’s replaced by a single robot to drill, tap and fix bolt to the desired location without costing any waste. All the material from the drilling of the thin walled material is transformed to create the thread. This results in simplifying the process and no chip nor cleaning is necessary which in turn saves the disposal cost and ofcorse the time. To make the step simpler, the thread-forming tool can be merged to the drilling tool so as to create hole and thread at a stretch, which in turn saves a process thus saving more