Tribology in metal forming

Abstract

The ability to produce a variety of shapes from a block of metal at high rates of production has been one of the real technological advances of the current century. This transition from hand-forming operations to mass-production methods has been an important factor in the great improvement in the standard of living, which occurred during the period. With these forming processes, it is possible to mechanically deform metal into a final shape with minimal material removal. The use of metal forming processes is widely spread over many different industries. In metal forming processes, friction forces between metal and forming tools play an important role because of their influence on the process performance and on the final product properties. In many instances, this frictional behavior is often taken into account by using a constant coefficient of friction in the simulation of metal forming processes. Several different types of instruments are constructed to measure the coefficient of friction for different materials. In this chapter, the fundamental concept of forming processes and the influence of friction in metal forming are discussed. A case study on the influence of friction based on surface texture during metal forming is also presented.