FAE modeling of coated forming tools

Forming tools are subjected to high mechanical and thermal loads. Abrasive workpiece materials can cause accelerated abrasive wear. Especially aluminium alloys have a tendency to adhere on the tool surface. Therefore environmentally harmful and expensive lubricants and separators have to be used. Hard coatings can reduce tool wear and avoid adhesion but coating compositions which are proven to be effective on cutting tools for a long time fail rapidly when used on forming tools. Forming tools require special load resisting coatings and a design to fit the material properties of substrate and coating. The finite element method (FEM) was used in the current investigation to simulate and analyze the stress distribution in forming tools. Due to the lack of reliable material data of the coating materials the coating properties are evaluated by the comparison of experimental results with the numerical simulations