Experimental studies on the effect of application methods on the lubricant performance during serial production in automotive industry

Abstract

Lubricant breakdown and galling phenomena are widely observed at the tooling surface during the stamping of aluminium components for the automotive industry, which compromise the formed surface quality and reduce tool-life. The lubricant performance has been found to be significantly influenced by its method of application. In the present research, a dedicated lubricant was evaluated by utilizing an advanced lab-scale friction testing system, TriboMate, and the effects of lubricant application method and lubricant quantity on the coefficient of friction evolution were investigated. It has been found that lubricant performance was significantly improved when the lubricant was applied on the hot workpiece blank, compared to the cold tooling surface, and when the lubricant quantity was increased. The gradual increase of friction evolution despite lubricant application on the workpiece blank was found to be due to the formation of an aluminium transfer layer at the tooling surface.

Keywords

• lubricant performance
• application methods
• metal forming
• lubricant breakdown
• galling