Environmentally approach for enhancing tribological characteristics in metal forming: A review

Abstract

Vegetable oil is a potential candidate to replace mineral oilbased lubricant because it is renewable and sustainable and also has high biodegradability and low toxicity. The application of surface texture is a clean approach that can be used to improve the lubrication condition of a smooth surface. From tribological tests, researchers found that the friction and wear performances are greatly affected by the physiochemical properties of vegetable oil and the dimension characteristics of texture. Therefore, it is vital to have a detailed understanding of the parameters related to each application. In the metal forming process, it is a relatively new practice to use vegetable oil and surface texture to improve lubrication film thickness at the tool–workpiece interface. These approaches improve the deformation of metal, retard the formation of surface defects and reduce friction, surface roughness and forming load. The quantity of lubricant can be minimised when the thickness of the film between the tool and the material is developed as a boundary lubrication condition. The physical properties of vegetable oil and surface texture are therefore critical and need to be optimised before implementing their use in metal forming work. The present paper reviews the influence of vegetable oil and surface texture on the tribological behaviour in metal forming processes.