)1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.S. )1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy; acseganzo@unina. In the new generation of aircraft, the percentage of CFRP composite materials has significantly increased, reaching in some cases over 50% of the whole weight of the vehicle. This trend is going to continue in the near future [3]. The assembly of CFRP composite parts is most frequently carried out using mechanical joints, such as rivets, due to the difficulty of realizing welding operations, only applicable to thermoplastic matrix composites, or adhesive joints. Accordingly, drilling is the most widespread CFRP machining process in the aerospace and aeronautical industries. As a matter of fact, in a medium-sized airplane some 85,000 rivets are estimated [4; 5]. Drilling of CFRP laminates is frequently carried out manually and cutting tools are often replaced largely before the end of tool life to avoid material damage due to early tool failure [6]. This has a quite negative effect on the cost and productivity of drilling operations. Nevertheless, drilling of CFRP composite parts is a challenge for manufacturing engineers due to the anisotropic nature of the material, the rapid tool wear caused by abrasive carbon fibers, and the highly concentrated stresses and vibrations. These phenomena may cause critical defects affecting material integrity, surface quality and part acceptability: hole entry and hole exit delamination, geometrical and dimensional errors, interlaminar delamination, fiber pullout, and thermal damage [7; 8; 9]. In past decades, diverse non-destructive testing and evaluation techniques were developed and applied to detect defects for quality evaluation of CFRP components [8; 10; 11]. Delamination, i.e., the separation of laminated layers, is the most critical damage mode since its presence negatively impacts the hole strength and consequently the in-service behaviour of assembled parts [12; 13; 14]. The delamination phenomenon is closely influenced by the drilling process parameters [15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. In [21; 22], an excessively high thrust force is reported as the main process parameter responsible for catastrophic tool failure and extended delamination damage.