Microtexturing of Cold-Forging Tools - Influence on Tool Life

Friction and wear in metal-forming processes are dependent on several parameters, including sliding velocity, temperature, material combination, etc. Surface topography also plays an important role. It is evident that so-called lubricant pockets can improve the tribological state. Excimer laser material processing makes it possible to generate such pockets, even on complex-shaped, uncoated as well as coated-forming tools and with flexibility considering the arrangement and geometry of the textures. This paper deals with the investigation of the influence of direct laser texturing of coated tools on tribology in cold-forging processes. The arrangement, size, and geometry of the texture elements were chosen according to results of previous basic investigations. The tribological state is determined by means of industrial tool life tests. The results proved that tool life can be increased significantly, in some cases to more than 300 per cent.