Characterization of wear and friction between X160CrMoV12 tool steel and carbon steel sheet during reciprocating sliding tests

During hinges manufacturing, a particular die wear was discovered in the step of cold plastic rolling (CPR). This experimental work deals with the investigation of the tribological behaviour of tool-workpiece material pairs: a cold work tool material (X160CrMoV12) sliding against a carbon steel sheet (S235JR) used in the CPR operation. The development of a new and special tribological test designed to simulate conditions corresponding to the CPR process was accomplished. The friction tests were completed using the reciprocating sliding tribometer taking into account the opened tribosystem and the X160CrMoV12 pin sliding orientations. The SEM-EDS characterization of the pin surface revealed an abrasive wear associated with adhesive wear when the pin slides perpendicular to the rolling direction of the plate, but no relevant difference was shown in the friction coefficient values obtained by the pin sliding perpendicular or parallel to the rolling direction of the plate. Then, the influence of deposition of Ni-B 25mL/L TiO(2 )sol composite coating on the wear behaviour of the pin and the plate was completed. The applied coating weakens and softens the contact zone between the plate and the pin due to its low roughness (0.12 p.m). Indeed, the friction coefficient is reduced to 0.2 and the pin track width decreases from approximately 1520 to 1351 p.m upon a sliding distance of 65 m. Also, the coated pin provides an important protection to the S235 JR plate from wear damage as the wear volume of the friction track decreased by over 68% and the wear depth diminished by almost 42% at the end of the sliding distances.