The Effect of Deformation Speed on Frictional Behavior by Tip Test

In this study, a tip test was carried out under various ram velocities of 0.01 mm/s, 0.1 mm/s, 1.0 mm/s, and 5.0 mm/s to investigate the effect of deformation speed on friction using the commercially available AL6061-O. For experiments, four different lubrication conditions with grease, corn oil, VG100, and VG32 were used to investigate the lubrication characteristics. During the test, temperature was measured in the specimen by a K-type thermocouple to determine the temperature increase induced by heat generation due to plastic deformation. In the present investigation, the linearity between tip distance and experimentally measured maximum load was consistently observed in spite of different orders of ram velocity and types of lubrication. As the ram velocity increased, loads were reduced for liquid lubricants and increased for grease. To better understand such a lubrication phenomenon, white-light interferometer microscopy and laser confocal microscopy were used to observe and compare surface topographies on the bottom and circumferential side of the deformed specimens at various experimental conditions, which formed lubrication pockets incurring hydrodynamic pressure of liquid lubricants. Finally, the effect of deformation speed on the level of shear friction factors at the punch and die interfaces was characterized by the finite element simulations and was determined to be expressed as an exponential function depending on the lubricant. This investigation demonstrates the capability of the tip test to experimentally characterize the effect of deformation speed on the frictional behavior for practical use.