Study on Frictional Behavior of AA 6XXX with Three Lube Conditions in Sheet Metal Forming

Light-weighting vehicles cause an increase in Aluminum Alloy stamping processes in the Automotive Industry. Surface finish and lubricants of aluminum alloy (AA) sheet play an important role in the deep drawing processes as they can affect the friction condition between the die and the sheet. This paper aims to develop a reliable and practical laboratory test method to experimentally investigate the influence of surface finish, lubricant conditions, draw-bead clearances and pulling speed on the frictional sliding behavior of AA 6XXX sheet metal. A new double-beads draw-bead-simulator (DBS) system was used to conduct the simulated test to determine the frictional behavior of an aluminium alloy with three surface lubricant conditions: mill finish (MF) with oil lube, electric discharge texture (EDT) finish with oil lube and mill finish (MF) with dry lube (DL). The experimental results could be utilized to distinguish the frictional performance of the three different sheets aforementioned under the same test condition, as well as simulate draw dies process and validates draw bead force models based upon either the finite element method or analytical theory. This study will also improve the product quality and lower cost for the sheet metal forming industry.