In Search of the Perfect Sheet Metal Forming Tribometer

Due to increasing variant diversity and mass customization, time and cost-efficient process design has gained importance for several years. Tribological investigations are playing a key role as part of the process design. In particular, the desires for extended process limits, reduction of lubricant amount, and reliable determination of friction coefficients for FE simulations place high requirements on tribometers in sheet metal forming. For quite some time, the strip drawing test with several variations has been considered as an efficient and meaningful method for tribological investigations. This paper summarizes the development of the strip drawing test to date. In particular, design principles for experimental modelling of tribological conditions of deep drawing processes and approaches for friction measurement are described. Moreover, the current state and future requirements for the development of the “perfect” tribometer are discussed in this review paper