Tool life prediction under multi-cycle loading conditions: A feasibility study

Abstract

Abstract. In the present research, the friction and wear behaviour of a hard coating were studied by using ball-on-disc tests to simulate the wear process of the coated tools for sheet metal forming process. The evolution of the friction coefficient followed a typical dualplateau pattern, i.e. at the initial stage of sliding, the friction coefficient was relatively low, followed by a sharp increase due to the breakdown of the coatings after a certain number of cyclic dynamic loadings. This phenomenon was caused by the interactive response between the friction and wear from a coating tribo-system, which has not been addressed so far by metal forming researchers, and constant friction coefficient values are normally used in the FE simulations to represent the complex tribological nature at the contact interfaces. Meanwhile, most of the current FE simulations are single cycle, whereas most sheet metal forming operations are conducted as multi-cycle. Therefore, a novel friction/wear interactive friction model was developed to, simultaneously, characterise the evolutions of friction coefficient and the remaining thickness of the coating layer, to enable the wear life of coated tooling to be predicted. The friction model was then implemented into the FE simulation of a sheet metal forming process for feasibility study.