An experimental investigation of the survivability and friction characteristics of tin-coated and polymer-laminated steels

The food and beverage container industry is of immense economic importance, being an established technology is also fiercely competitive. In the proce ss for metal containers, a time consuming and therefore expensive process i nvolves the spray of a food-contact safe polymer coating onto the can befor e filling. This process can be eliminated using a pre-laminated metal workp iece as long as the polymer will survive the manufacturing operations invol ved in can making. The most demanding operation in can making is the ironin g process because of the high pressures involved as well as the necessary g eneration of new surface. This paper presents experimental results on the i roning of steels with tin and lacquer coatings and polyester laminate, and addresses tribological characteristics as well as survivability issues with these workpieces. The experimental apparatus used a specially fabricated i roning simulator, allowed variation of die angles wing titanium carbide too ling inserts. The polyester laminate is found to perform very well at low d ie angles without lubricants, suggesting that this is a viable option for c an manufacture.