Optimization of tool use in sheet metal forming

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Groche
• Subject Area: Primary Shaping and Reshaping Technology, Additive Manufacturing
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 290017281

The research proposal aims at optimizing the use of tool life in sheet metal forming. Tool wear in a forming process usually shows a characteristic wear development, where the damage initially increases linearly and finally changes into an exponential increase leading to failure of the tool. For an optimized tool use, it is necessary to detect this wear development as accurately as possible and to understand basic mechanisms. The reasons for tool failure are a largely unknown. In literature there are explanations that attribute failure to an increased tool roughness or a local softening. In this research proposal, these effects should be separated and analyzed. Finally, measures for wear reduction should to be determined.In order to achieve these objectives, experimental wear tests based on a strip drawing test will be carried out. The first step includes an analysis of wear development of various tribological systems in order to investigate the prevailing mechanisms in case of failure. For this purpose, an existing online monitoring system will be used to document the wear development. Additionally, the monitoring system will be extended with a resistance measurement to detect changes in the contact zone between sheet metal and tool. This aims to improve the detection of tool failure. Based on these results, further experimental studies should be carried out, investigating the influence of roughness and hardness of the tools on the wear independently. Finally an explanatory model will be validated, describing the causal mechanisms in case of failure. In addition, measures should be derived that counteract wear caused by material removal or decreased hardness.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants