Abstract
The use of high strength aluminium alloys, such as 6XXX and 7XXX series, is continuously increasing for automotive applications in view of their good strength-to-weight ratio. Their formability at room temperature is limited and they are thus often formed at high temperatures to enable production of complex geometries. Critical challenges during hot forming of aluminium are the occurrence of severe adhesion and material transfer onto the forming tools. This negatively affects the tool life and the quality of the produced parts. In general, the main mechanisms involved in the occurrence of material transfer of aluminium alloys at high temperature are still not clearly understood. Therefore, this study is focussed on understanding of the friction and wear behaviour during interaction of Al6016 alloy and three different tool steels in as-received and polished state. The tribotests were carried out under dry and lubricated conditions, with two distinct lubricants, using a reciprocating friction and wear tester. The worn surfaces were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed a high dependence of friction and wear behaviour on the tool steel roughness as well as on the stability of the lubricant films. Tribolayers were found to develop in the contact zone and their capacity to improve the tribological behaviour is seen to be drastically impacted by the surface roughness of the tool steel. When the tribolayers failed, severe adhesion took place and led to high and unstable friction as well as material transfer to the tool steel.
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The authors would like to acknowledge Swerea IVF for the financial and material support as well as their inputs for the realisation of this study.
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Justine DECROZANT-TRIQUENAUX. She received her M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 2016 from Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Saint Etienne (ENISE), France. Then, she was a Ph.D. student at the Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. Her Ph.D. degree will be defended in mechanical engineering. Her research areas include high temperature tribology with a focus on sheet metal forming of aluminium.
Leonardo PELCASTRE. He received his M.S. degree in the advanced materials science and engineering masters programme in 2008 at Luleå University of Technology, and his Ph.D. degree in machine elements in 2013 at the same university. His current position is a university lecturer at Luleå university of technology and his research focuses on high temperature tribology, wear of materials, surface engineering, and tribomaterials for tribological applications.
Braham PRAKASH. He is presently distinguished visiting professor at Tsinghua University (China) and professor emeritus at Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). He obtained Ph.D. (tribology) degrees (1993) from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (India). He was a professor and head of Tribolab at the Division of Machine Elements of Luleå University of Technology during 2002–2019. His research & teaching activities pertain to high temperature tribology; tribology of materials & lubricants; solid lubricants/self-lubricating coatings; boundary lubrication; tribology of machine components (bearings, gears and seals); analysis of wear problems; and tribotesting.
Jens HARDELL. He received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 2005 and Ph.D. degree in machine elements in 2009 from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. His current position is an associate professor at Luleå University of Technology. His main research interests include high temperature tribology, friction and wear in dry contacts, tribomaterials as well as surface engineering for friction and wear control.
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Decrozant-Triquenaux, J., Pelcastre, L., Prakash, B. et al. Influence of lubrication, tool steel composition, and topography on the high temperature tribological behaviour of aluminium. Friction 9, 155–168 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0371-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0371-6