Trend of process tribology focused from die life -key technology for precious and efficient production-

摘要

There has been a growing demand for producing high quality products at low cost considering the global environment in the production line. Process tribology is one of the key technologies to fulfil this demand. The role of the process tribology and the standpoint of tribo-simulators are discussed and evaluated. The object of the process tribology is not only to improve the forming limit and the die life but also to save energy. Damage of metal forming dies is identified and two counterplans are proposed. One of the counterplans is the flow chart reaching the goal to improve the die life and the other is the necessity to structure the system and to foster specialists dealing with process tribology. Points of the method of using die materials and surface coatings are shown for correct application, and new trends of lubrication technology are summarized. The present state of the technologies for measuring mechanical and thermal loads is also summarized, and the studies on predicting the die life are presented.