Correct design of the sheet metal forming process requires knowledge of the friction phenomenon occurring in various areas of the drawpiece. Additionally, the friction at the drawbead is decisive to ensure that the sheet flows in the desired direction. This article presents the results of experimental tests enabling the determination of the coefficient of friction at the drawbead and using a specially designed tribometer. The test material was a DC04 carbon steel sheet. The tests were carried out for different orientations of the samples in relation to the sheet rolling direction, different drawbead heights, different lubrication conditions and different average roughnesses of the countersamples. According to the aim of this work, the Features Importance analysis, conducted using the Gradient-Boosted Regression Trees algorithm, was used to find the influence of several parameter features on the coefficient of friction. The advantage of gradient-boosted decision trees is their ability to analyze complex relationships in the data and protect against overfitting. Another advantage is that there is no need for prior data processing. According to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the effectiveness of gradient-boosted decision trees in analyzing the friction occurring in the drawbead in sheet metal forming has not been previously studied. To improve the accuracy of the model, five MinLeafs were applied to the regression tree, together with 500 ensembles utilized for learning the previously learned nodes, noting that the MinLeaf indicates the minimum number of leaf node observations. The least-squares-boosting technique, often known as LSBoost, is used to train a group of regression trees. Features Importance analysis has shown that the friction conditions (dry friction of lubricated conditions) had the most significant influence on the coefficient of friction, at 56.98%, followed by the drawbead height, at 23.41%, and the sample width, at 11.95%. The average surface roughness of rollers and sample orientation have the smallest impact on the value of the coefficient of friction at 6.09% and 1.57%, respectively. The dispersion and deviation observed for the testing dataset from the experimental data indicate the model’s ability to predict the values of the coefficient of friction at a coefficient of determination of R² = 0.972 and a mean-squared error of MSE = 0.000048. It was qualitatively found that in order to ensure the optimal (the lowest) coefficient of friction, it is necessary to control the friction conditions (use of lubricant) and the drawbead height.

Friction is an undesirable phenomenon in the flange area of the drawpiece in sheet metal forming processes, causing a deterioration in surface finish and a decrease in the formability limits of the sheet metal. The aim of this work is numerical analysis using the finite element method of the strip drawing test with two rounded countersamples. This test simulates friction conditions in the flange area of the drawpiece. The results of the experimental research on the influence of surface roughness on the value of the friction coefficient of S235 steel samples were used to verify the numerical results. The relation between the real contact area and the mean roughness Ra of the countersamples was determined. The real contact area increases with the increase of the mean roughness Ra. In sheet metal forming processes, the coefficient of friction depends on the real contact area, and its value increases with the increase of the real contact area.

The article presents the results of friction tests of a 0.8 mm-thick DC04 deep-drawing quality steel sheet. A special friction simulator was used in the tests, reflecting friction conditions occurring while pulling a sheet strip through a drawbead in sheet metal forming. The variable parameters in the experimental tests were as follows: surface roughness of countersamples, lubrication conditions, sample orientation in relation to the sheet rolling direction as well as the sample width and height of the drawbead. Due to many factors that affect the value of the coefficient of friction coefficient, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to build and analyse the friction model. Four training algorithms were used to train the ANNs: back propagation, conjugate gradients, quasi-Newton and Levenberg–Marquardt. It was found that for all analysed friction conditions and sheet strip widths, increasing the drawbead height increases the COF value. The chlorine-based Heavy Draw 1150 compound provides a more effective friction reduction compared to a LAN-46 machine oil.

With the development of manufacturing processes, an increase in the importance of metal-fibre composites in materials engineering is observed. These are materials consisting of appropriately arranged layers of metal and various types of fibres. The very wide use of composite materials in the construction of machine and equipment components means they are often exposed to work in variable temperature conditions. The aim of this article was analysis of the thermal expansion of typical composites: carbon fibre-reinforced polymer, glass fibre-reinforced polymer, glass-reinforced aluminium laminate and carbon-fibre reinforced aluminium laminate. EN AW-6060 aluminium alloy was used as the reference material. The aim of the dilatometric tests was to determine the coefficient of thermal expansion and the dimensional stability of composite materials at elevated temperatures up to 100 °C. The EN AW-6060 aluminium alloy was characterized by the highest linear expansion coefficient (20.27×10−6 1/K). Composites containing glass fibres were characterized by the lowest positive linear thermal expansion coefficient. Among the composite materials tested, CARALLs exhibit the lowest thermal expansion coefficient.

The aim of the research described in this paper is analysis of the deformation of the aircraft tyre subjected to static load. Based on the results of experimental tests with a different value of inflation pressure, favorable pressure conditions for use in the tyre of an ultralight aircraft were determined. The deflection characteristics of the tyre depending on the nominal pressure was determined using the digital image correlation technique. In the range of loads not leading to excessive tyre deflection, quite linear relation between vertical deflection and vertical force is observed. The safe minimum pressure in tyre loaded with a force of 12 kN is 2.5 bar. The experimental results will be used to select a shock absorber for a 600 kg ultralight, light sport aircraft commercialised by the company Ekolot (Krosno, Poland). Keyword : digital image correlation, landing impact, light sport aircraft, tyre, tyre deflection, touchdown

Friction studies in sheet metal forming processes are essential for developing appropriate forming technology. This paper presents the results of experimental studies of friction occurring at the drawbead. A 0.8-mm-thick low-carbon DC04 steel sheet was used as the test material. Friction studies were conducted under machine oil lubrication conditions. Due to the anisotropy of test material properties, the friction tests considered strip specimens cut longitudinally and transversely to the sheet rolling direction (RD). The obtained results allowed the determination of the effect of friction process parameters on the coefficient of friction (CoF). For both sample orientations, increasing the drawbead height led to a decrease in the CoF. Samples cut transversely to the RD showed higher CoFs compared to specimens cut in the RD. Based on scanning electron microscopy micrographs, it was determined that the primary friction mechanisms were flattening and microploughing of sheet metal surface.