Friction and adhesion of stainless steel strip against tool steels in unlubricated sliding with high contact load

The strong tendency of stainless steel to adhere to other metals and to wor k harden makes it particularly difficult to form. A new slider-on-strip tri bometer was used to study the tribological behaviour of traditional and new tool materials. The tribometer allows friction, workpiece adhesion on the tool surface and wear to be studied under conditions with low sliding speed s and high contact pressures. Several tool steels were tested using cold ro lled stainless steel strip as a workpiece material. The results showed that the composition of the tool steel does not have a marked effect on the fri ction between the tool and the workpiece. However, the surface roughness an d topography of the tool have a marked effect. Polishing of the tool surfac e to reduce the surface roughness reduces the friction between the tool and the workpiece. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.