Abstract: During drilling of carbon/epoxy (C/E) composite, high machine quality can be obtained when adopting “grinding-drilling” tools. Due to the poor thermo-mechanical properties of epoxy resin, the distribution of temperature field has great effect on the machine quality. In order to investigate the distribution of the temperature field during grinding-drilling of C/E composite, a 3D temperature field model during hole-making is established. Based on the uniform of the thermo-physical characteristics of the material, the model is established by using the finite difference method, and experiment is carried out to verify the model. The simulation results of the temperature raise process in the material, the maximum value of the temperature and the distribution of the temperature field at the exit are consistent with the experiment results. Furthermore, the temperature field is an elliptical zone at the exit and the major axis of the elliptical is the same as the direction of the fiber. The study of the temperature field during grinding-drilling of C/E composite provides some guidance for the influence of cutting temperature on the machine quality and the theoretical basis for the process of the “grinding-drilling” technology.

Key words: Carbon/epoxy composites, Grinding-drilling, Model, Temperature field