Tribology of Composite Materials and Coatings in Manufacturing

The chapter presents studies regarding the tribological performance of composite materials and multilayer composite coated tools in manufacturing processes carried out by the authors. Two manufacturing processes were investigated—metal forming and metal cutting. In metal forming, the study aimed to explore lubricant-free forming utilizing multilayer DLC composite hard coating as the potential tool coating. The experimental studies on the coating include characterization of the coating, and tribological analysis of the coating using commercially available pin-on-disk, laboratory tribology simulative test and industrial ironing of stainless steel. In order to examine the influence of temperature and contact pressure along the tool/workpiece interface on friction, Finite Element analysis was performed. Meanwhile, in metal cutting, two environmentally benign machining techniques were investigated to determine their potentials in delaying tool wear progression. First, sustainable machining by coupling multilayer ceramic composite coated-tool with cryogenic coolant as the cutting fluid. Second, the machining of Carbon Fibre Composite and Titanium alloys stacks using Ultrasonic Assisted Drilling (UAD) technique. Both techniques include investigations on machining conditions with varied cutting tool speeds. The examinations on the experimental results were focused on temperature, tool wear, surface integrity and metallurgical structure of near-surface region