Improvement of Seizure Resistance in Ironing of Aluminum Alloy Sheets and Stainless Steel Cups by Utilizing Laser Textured Die Having Lubricant Pockets

Seizure during ironing negatively affects the quality of parts and die life. To prevent seizures, lubrication has to be improved. In this study, laser-textured dies with lubricant pockets were utilized to improve seizure resistance in the ironing of aluminum alloy sheets and stainless steel cups. The effects of array patterns of micro-pockets, such as grid and crossing array patterns with circular pockets, as well as a grooved array patterns on seizure resistance, were experimentally examined by strip ironing. The sheet and die materials were the A1050-O aluminum alloy and JIS SKD11 tool steel, respectively. Moreover, the underlying physics of the lubricant flow influencing the load-carrying capacity were investigated using three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations. The optimum array patterns of the micro-pockets were then utilized on a tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) die surface for ironing SUS430 stainless steel cylindrical cups. The strip ironing results showed that the grid array pattern was successful in ironing sheets with a high ironing ratio. The grid array pattern increased the load-carrying capacity of the lubricant more than the crossing pattern, as demonstrated by the simulations, thereby improving the ironing limit. The subsequent ironing of stainless steel cups revealed that when using a textured die with a grid array pattern and lubricant without the extreme pressure additive in comparison to an untextured die, the ironing limit increased by 6% and the average ironing load decreased by 35%. The seizure resistance was improved because the pockets on the surface structured by laser surface texturing improved the load-carrying capacity during ironing.