The Effect of Boron Nitride Lubricant Thickness and Steel Surface Condition on Tribological Behavior of P20 Steel/5083 Aluminum Sliding Pairs at High Temperature

The tribological behavior of AA5083 aluminum sheet sliding against tool steel impacts the quality of components manufactured with the Quick Plastic Forming (QPF) process. The effect of boron nitride lubricant thickness on the tribological performance of different coated steel/AA5083 pairs utilizing a recently developed reciprocating flat-on-flat tribological test technique was investigated. In most cases of coated and uncoated steel, the time-to-contact increased by a factor of ten when the BN thickness was increased from 8.4 μm to 14.5 μm. The tribological tests with a low sliding speed method (0.1 Hz) confirmed the previous observations conducted at 0.5 Hz in which nitrocarburizing of the tool surface decreased adhesion of aluminum to the steel during sliding contact.