Francesco Medea

Tribological performances of new steel grades for hot stamping tools

In the last years, the use of High Strength Steels (HSS) as structural parts in car body-in-white manufacturing has rapidly increased thanks to their favourable strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness, which allow a reduction of the fuel consumption to accommodate the new restricted regulations for CO2 emissions control. The survey of the technical and scientific literature shows a large interest in the development of different coatings for the blanks from the traditional Al-Si up to new Zn-based coatings and on the analysis of hard PVD, CVD coatings and plasma nitriding applied on the tools. By contrast, fewer investigations have been focused on the development and test of new tools steels grades capable to improve the wear resistance and the thermal properties that are required for the in-die quenching during forming. On this base, the paper deals with the analysis and comparison the tribological performances in terms of wear, friction and heat transfer of new tool steel grades for high-temperature applications, characterized by a higher thermal conductivity than the commonly used tools. Testing equipment, procedures as well as measurements analyses to evaluate the friction coefficient, the wear and heat transfer phenomena are presented. Emphasis is given on the physical simulation techniques that were specifically developed to reproduce the thermal and mechanical cycles on the metal sheets and dies as in the industrial practice. The reference industrial process is the direct hot stamping of the 22MnB5 HSS coated with the common Al-Si coating for automotive applications.

Tribological Behaviour of Lubricants in Hot Stamping of AA6016

The increasing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles has led automotive industry to introduce new alloys in car manufacturing, characterized by a high stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio. Due to their mechanical and chemical properties, aluminium alloys appear potential candidates to replace traditional steels for several parts of the car-body-in-white, even if the limited formability at room temperature, the marked springback and the severe tribological behaviour have often represented important drawbacks in traditional properties. Recently, the use of temperature-assisted processes, such as hot stamping, allows overcoming such limits thanks to substantial increase of the formability and, at the same time, a drastic reduction of springback. However, the choice of proper process parameters, in terms of lubrication at the interfaces between the dies and the blank, and thermal parameters of the dies materials still represent critical points for the feasibility of the process. Recent investigations have proved the limits of assuming constant friction for all the areas of the dies and the steps of the deformations, especially with variable pressures and non-constant temperatures at the interfaces. Such factors, together with the lubricants and the lubricant deposition on the blank, the blank and dies coatings, the surface roughness, the stamping speed are not always considered, despite their considerable influence on the process tribology. In this paper the friction behaviour of commercially available automotive aluminium (AA6016 alloy) is studied. The friction coefficient is measured by means of a new machine for strip draw test at different levels of pressure, temperature, sliding speed and type of lubricant. The results report the investigation of the surface topography of the metal sheets, investigated by Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and optical profilometry.

Novel Wear Testing Apparatus to Investigate the Reciprocating Sliding Wear in Sheet Metal Forming at Elevated Temperatures

Hot stamping has gained increasing importance in the last years due to the introduction of High Strength Steels (HSS) to improve the strength-to-mass ratio of stamped components. Despite the advantages in terms of load decrease, springback reduction and increased formability, the elevated temperatures the tools are subjected to may determine severe thermal mechanical cycling, increased oxidation and wear, which influence the tools service life and the quality of the produced parts. In addition, the frictional behaviour is also changing with temperature, thus affecting the performance of the forming operation itself. In this paper a novel experimental apparatus suitable for reciprocating sliding wear tests at elevated temperatures is presented. It consists of a linear sliding guideway connected to an electrical actuator and equipped with a heating plate to heat metal sheets. A solid frame embeds a screw device used to apply normal load. Thermocouples placed both on the plate and on sheet sample are used to control temperature during the test. The machine is also equipped with two load cells to record the normal and the tamgential loads. The 22MnB5 high strength steel was chosen as reference material for the machine testing. The results showed the capability of the new equipment and the good stability of the mechanical and thermal condition during testing.

Novel spraying apparatus to investigate the lubricant deposition on metal sheets at high temperature

The constant demand of increasing performances and safety in automotive industry has led significant innovations in the materials as well as in forming processes. In particular, lightweight aluminium alloys are knowing higher and higher importance, thanks to the development of new stamping processes at high temperatures capable to allow improved formability, low spring-back and accurate micro-structural control in the formed parts. However, the choice of proper process parameters, in terms of lubrication at the interfaces between the dies and the blank, still represents a critical point for the process feasibility. On this basis, the paper aims at presenting a novel spraying apparatus to investigate the deposition of lubricants in hot stamping. The equipment allows the accurate control of the quantity of the lubricant that is deposited on the specimen and of the deposition temperature to maximize the lubricant adhesion. The results show the capability of the new equipment and the good stability of the con...

Feasibility Analysis of Lubrication through Magneto-Rheological Fluids in Sheet Metal Forming Processes

Magneto-rheological fluids represent one of the most recent technologies introduced in many industrial applications to design fast and reliable electro-mechanical devices. Such fluids, which consist of a dispersion of metallic particles in a fluid carrier, may drastically change their rheological properties when subjected to external magnetic fields with short response times and low power consumption. Up to date, the most common applications of MR fluids regard the integration in mechatronics applications mainly in civil and mechanical fields, where they are often used as active lubricants in rotary components such as bearings. However, no investigations can be found in literature on their tribological performances when applied in metal forming processes.The paper aims at investigating the tribological behaviour of magneto-rheological fluids when applied as lubricants in sheet metal forming processes. To this aim, a new experimental apparatus has been developed to test the friction coefficient at the interface between the tools and the metal sheet when different magnetic fields are applied. The stamping of AA alloys was taken as reference case to select the process parameters in terms of contact pressure, magnetic field and sliding speed.