Lubrication enhancement in deep drawing process by utilizing nanoparticle additives

Lubrication is an essential factor in sheet metal forming processes such as deep drawing in order to reduce friction at contact surfaces, forming load, tool wear rate and increasing of sheet formability. Various metal oxide nanoparticles can be used as additives to create desirable tribological properties in base lubricants because of their unique properties such as specific surface area. In the present study, the conventional lubricant enhanced by alumina nanoparticles (Al2O3) is utilized in deep drawing process in order to improve frictional conditions. The forming load, surface roughness (Ra) and thickness distribution values of the formed cups were assessed to evaluate the performance of the enhanced conventional lubricant with alumina nanoparticles (Al2O3) in comparison to the conventional lubricant and dry forming condition. The obtained results from experimental tests revealed that adding 0.5 wt.% Al2O3 nanoparticles to the conventional lubricant improves lubrication property significantly and reduces forming load by 16.39% and surface roughness by 19.33% compared to the conventional lubricant. Furthermore, it is observed that using lubricant containing nanoparticle additives results in 23.94% improvement in maximum thickness reduction in critical zone.