Tribological measures for controlling material flow in sheet-bulk metal forming

Sheet-bulk metal forming (SBMF) is characterized by successive and/or simultaneous occurrence of quite different load conditions regarding stress and strain states. These conditions significantly influence the material flow and thus the geometrical accuracy of the components. To improve the product quality a control of the material flow is required. An appropriate approach is given by locally adapted tribological conditions due to surface modifications of tool and workpiece, so-called tailored surfaces. Within the present study different methods to adapt the surfaces are presented and investigated with respect to their tribological effectiveness in SBMF. In a first step, requirements regarding necessary adaptions of the friction values for two SBMF processes are numerically defined. Based on the requirements different tailored surfaces are presented and analyzed regarding their tribological influence. Finally, the potential of surface modifications to improve SBMF processes is shown.