Tribology in Warm and Hot Aluminum Sheet Forming: Transferability of Strip Drawing Tests to Forming Trials

For conventional sheet metal forming at room temperature, numerous tribometers have been developed in the 20th century. At the present state of the art, there are some challenges for tribometry in warm and hot forming processes of high-strength aluminum (e.g., EN AW-7075). Especially for nonisothermal processes with heated sheets and cooled dies, the tribological design is a major challenge, which needs to be addressed by investigations with adapted tribometers. Herein, the transferability of friction and wear behavior of three different lubricants and temperatures is investigated. Therefore, tribometer test results are compared with real forming trials in combination with thermomechanical finite element simulations. Both the behavior of different lubricant types and the characteristics of tool lubrication in sheet metal forming are discussed.

Automated summary

Conventional tribometers have been developed for sheet metal forming at room temperature, but there are challenges in warm and hot forming processes of high-strength aluminum. This study investigates the transferability of friction and wear behavior using three different lubricants and temperatures. Comparison is made between tribometer test results, real forming trials, and thermomechanical finite element simulations to discuss the behavior of different lubricants and tool lubrication characteristics in sheet metal forming.