A COMPARATIVE-STUDY ON THE EVALUATION OF THE TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OFPOLYMER ZINC COATED STEEL SHEETS/

A major factor affecting the formability of coated automotive steel sh eets is the interfacial frictional behaviour between the sheet and the forming die. Within this study, the suitability of standard laborator y-type tribological tests (pin-on-disc and block-on-cylinder test) to evaluate the tribological behaviour of uncoated and zinc and zinc/poly mer coated steel sheets in dry sliding contact with cold working steel is investigated. The results obtained are compared to those obtained by a deep drawing experiment. Friction coefficients measured during th e running-in stage of the pin-on-disc test seem to be well suited to d istinguish between the different frictional behaviour of coated steel sheets. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.