Guy Léon Kaza

Abstract

Contribution to the study of thermal contact resistance and its modelling in the case of the crushing of the sheet/tool interface in the hot forming of sheet steel

Guy Léon Kaza - 23 April 2010

An exploratory study has been conducted to estimate the thermal contact resistance (TCR) in hot forming at the sheet/tool interface, in order to understand its relationships with pressure and surface roughness parameters. The importance of the TCR in applications such as hot stamping comes from the fact that it controls the heat exchanges directly and has an indirect effect on the properties of the final parts.
The study is focused on the feasibility of measuring the TCR between a tool made of X38CrMoV5 steel and a steel sheet made especially for hot stamping. The grade of sheet used in the study is 22MnB5 grade. Two facilities developed at the LETEE and at ICA-Albi have helped to assess the influence of contact pressure on TCR in constant thermal conditions for the LETEE and transient conditions for the ICA-Albi respectively. A range of pressures between 4 and 80 MPa has been explored on the LETEE facility. A decrease in TCR from 2×10-4 to 6×10-5m2KW-1 in order of magnitude was measured. The influence of surface roughness has been investigated through two surface states on X38CrMoV5 tool samples: one is a ground surface and the other is a polished state. The results showed slightly larger values of TCR for rectified samples.
The trend of decreasing TCR with an increase in pressure has been confirmed on the ICA-Albi facility. Variations between 3.4×10-4m2KW-1 and 2.7×10-4m2KW-1 have been measured for a range of pressures from 40 to 160 MPa. In comparison, the values obtained are on average twice as high than those measured at the LETEE and with lower measurement variations.
The TCR has then been subject to a two steps modelling process. The first step is focused on site crushing of asperities taking into account their rheological behavior (elastic, plastic or elastoplastic) to assess the contact area. The second step consisted in defining a relationship between the TCR and the contact pressure from a predefined model, linking the contact area to the TCR. From the resulting conductance model, a simulation of contact has been conducted under ABAQUSTM. By simulation, the evolution of temperatures according to contact pressure has been reproduced with a maximum deviation of 5°C from experimental temperature measurements.

Key words:
thermal contact resistance, contact area, surface roughness, asperities.

Last modified: 01/04/2011 05:35 PM