Friction and Wear in Stages of Galling for Sheet Metal Forming Applications

Aluminum is a very commonly used material at present, and roughly half of the produced aluminum products undergo forming during manufacturing. Galling is a severe form of wear that occurs during sheet metal forming operations and is a common failure mode of materials in sliding contact; however, the causes and mechanisms of galling are poorly understood. In this work, sliding wear experiments were conducted to produce galling wear between a tool steel ball bearing and aluminum alloy Al5083, to study the relationship between the coefficient of friction, the lump growth on the tool and the scratch morphology. Whilst the characteristic friction regimes were observed, the characteristic damage (grooves running parallel to the scratch direction) was not observed. Instead, when galling was developed on the indenter, the scratch surface morphology displayed a series of peaks and grooves perpendicular to the scratch direction. It is likely that the difference in scratch morphology observed once galling was initiated is due to the lower hardness and reduced work hardening behavior of the Al5083 alloy, compared to the high strength steels previously examined in sheet metal forming applications. The evolution of the scratch morphology has been characterized in a novel way by investigating the distribution of the longitudinal cross-section profile height along the scratch length in relation to the three-stage friction regime observed. This showed that, as the galling wear progressed, the longitudinal cross-section profile height distribution shifts towards negative values, with a corresponding shift in the distribution of material transferred to the tool shifting to the positive. This indicates that, as the amount of material adhered to the indenter increased, the depth of the grooves on the scratch surface perpendicular to the sliding direction also increased.