THERMODRILLING : FUNDAMENTALS OF A NEW PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

F. Tikal(1), J. C. O. Lopes(1), S. Damm(1), G. M. Zanin(1), W. L. Weingaertner(2)

(1) University of Kassel - "Institut für Produktionstechnik und Logistik" - Germany
(2) Department of Mechanical Engineering - UFSC - Florian¢polis - SC -Brazil

The thermodrilling uses the tungsten carbide tool to produce heat by plastic deformation and friction, resulting on the bush on the metal sheet that can be chipless tapped on the following cold forming process with the high speed steel tap without flute, this second process is called forming tapping. This paper introduces the main topics on this technology giving general information about the process characteristics that have been studied and optimised in an extensive research. The main results and tendencies goes to the discovery of new applications of thermodrilling.

Keywords: bush making, hole making, metal sheet, thermodrilling.