Digitally enhanced development of customised lubricant: Experimental and modelling studies of lubricant performance for hot stamping

Digitally enhanced technologies are transforming every aspect of the manufacturing sector towards the era of digital manufacturing. Traditional lubricant development methods involving systematic but time-consuming iterative processes is still extensively used in the metal forming industry. In the present study, a novel digitally enhanced lubricant development scheme was proposed by leveraging a mechanism-based interactive friction modelling framework and quantitative and comprehensive evaluation of lubricant performance via the data-centric lubricant limit diagrams. By predicting transient lubricant behaviour following the complex contact condition evolution experienced in actual forming operations, a close association and quantified relation between the lubricant performance and its properties such as viscosity, evaporation rate and fraction of dry matter was established. This can facilitate the optimisation efficiency of lubricant parameters and minimise the experimental cost for iterative lubricant trials. A case study was conducted in this work to develop a customised lubricant using this digitally enhance scheme for the target hot stamping process based on a benchmark lubricant as a reference. Further industrial forming tests of an automotive component were conducted to validate the ideal performance of the customised lubricant.