Lubrication aspects during Single Point Incremental Forming for steel and aluminum materials

Over the past few years, Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) has been mainly studied regarding formability, forming forces involved and the dimensional accuracy achieved in the final product. As in any other metal forming process, the choice of the lubricant depends on the deformation mechanisms that characterize the process, the roughness of the material involved and on the process parameters. Despite the recent developments on SPIF, little attention has been paid to the influence of lubricants used during the process. This study intends to evaluate the influence of the type of lubricant used in SPIF process, particularly on aluminum 1050 and DP780 steel sheets, in what concerns the surface quality of final parts. To do so, tests were performed employing a range of distinct lubricants. Roughness tests were conducted to evaluate surface quality. Results show opposite trends for aluminum and steel in the sense that lubricants that guarantee better results in aluminum proved to have worse results in steel and vice-versa.