Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501
DOI 10.1007/s00170-011-3412-5
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Experimental examination of the wear behaviour of the VAlN
tool coating by strip drawing process
M. Liewald & S. Wagner & D. Becker & C. Ziebert &
P. Pesch & S. Kolozsvári
Received: 14 October 2010 / Accepted: 6 April 2011 / Published online: 15 June 2011
# Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011
Abstract Resistance to wear, and therefore the lifetime
of forming tools, can be increased by surface function-
alisation using novel, multifunctional coatings. Thereby,
the tribological requirements on the coating are an
essential factor. Within the scope of the research work
presented here, tribological examinations were carried
out on a metastable vanadium aluminium nitride (VAlN)
tool coating when drawing the high-strength sheet metal
material DP 800. It was shown that the wear of the VAlN
tool coating can already be determined at stable frictional
behaviour (μ<0.085). The wear analysis was carried out
considering the topography and change in hardness of the
tool surface during the drawing path of 110,000 mm under
a contact stress of 150 MPa.
Keywords Friction coefficient . Hardness distribution .
Wear evaluation
M. Liewald : S. Wagner : D. Becker (*)
Institute for Metal Forming Technology (IFU),
University of Stuttgart,
Holzgartenstr. 17, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: dina.becker@ifu.uni-stuttgart.de
C. Ziebert
Institute for Material Research I, (IMF I),
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1,
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
P. Pesch : S. Kolozsvári
Technology Centre for Surface Engineering,
Rheinbreitbach GmbH (TZO),
Maarweg 30,
53619 Rheinbreitbach, Germany
1 Introduction
Due to the appearance of wear on the tool surface when
drawing high-strength sheet metal materials, enormously
high and unpredictable costs can be incurred. For this
reason, it is of great interest to be able to evaluate the wear
resistance of a tool surface before determining the tool
material and especially the expensive tool coating.
In sheet metal forming, the wear examinations are
carried out on suitable test stands. These examinations
generally include an extremely large number of test trials
(>1,000), with a concomitant high consumption of sheet
metal. A qualitative and quantitative statement regarding
the tool wear can be made based on the geometric change
of the tool contour at the "critical wear location" [1, 2].
Often, the wear is indirectly estimated by tribometer tests.
However, the decisive limitation of these examinations is that
they are carried out in a "closed loop". This means that the
tool, sheet metal material and lubricant contact with each other
frequently. Even the contact-mechanical model according to
Archard, in which the wear coefficient is calculated by wear
volumes/wear rates, can only be accepted with reservations
for the deep drawing process.
2 Modelling tool
This article introduces and discusses experimental exami-
nations on the qualitative and quantitative "preventive"
wear estimations of a newly developed tool coating for
deep drawing of high-strength sheet metal material DP 800
(ThyssenKrupp). For the new coating, a nanocrystalline,
metastable, super-hard vanadium aluminium nitride (VAlN)
layer was developed [3] at the IMF I in laboratory scale on
a Leybold Z550 system and scaled at the Technology
496
Centre for Surface Engineering, Rheinbreitbach GmbH
(TZO) on two similar modelling tools A and B (Fig. 1) in
a CC800/8 type coating system from CemeCon. The
developed process allowed 2–3-μm-thick layers to be
separated in Ar/N2 atmosphere at a power of 3 kW and a
substrate temperature of 350°C using a VAl20 filling target
(V target with 20 Al fillings, geometry patented by
CemeCon AG) [4]. The scaled layer had a crystal size of
4–5 nm, determined by X-ray powder diffractometry, and
hardnesses of up to approx. 4,000 HV0.001, as well as
good adhesion for the tools.
3 Results
3.1 Friction behaviour
The friction examinations were carried out at the “Institute
for Metal Forming Technology (IFU) using a strip drawing
test machine without deflection [5] and only using tool A.
Modelling tool B was used as the reference tool.
Figure 2 shows a device for strip draw testing designed
for friction coefficient measurement. Configurable inserted
blocks on the upper and lower sides of the strip can be used
to simulate tool contact surfaces under load at various
roughness values. The test rig is also equipped with a
driving motor to draw the strip up to a speed of 200 mm/s.
A hydraulic cylinder in the top area provides different
levels of contact pressure from 2 to 200 MPa. Utilizing this
kind of specimen, contact pressure between inserted
Fig. 1 Modelling (drawing) tool geometry: a 2D and b 3D views. Contact area, 150 mm². Tool material, 1.2379 (X155CrVMo12.1)
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501
surfaces and the strip in motion can be measured. The
following parameters can be considered:
& Strip drawing velocity
& Surface topography of tool material
& Surface topography of sheet metal strip
& Kind and amount of lubrication
& Tool material/tool coating and
& Normal pressure between inserted block and sheet surface
During the test trials, a high-contact stress of 150 MPa
was used in contrast to the real contact stresses in the
blankholder when deep drawing high-strength steels
(3–10 MPa). This was done so that all possible contact
stresses could be covered within the forming zone as well
as to accelerate the tool wear. A total of 200 test strips
(drawing path 110,000 mm) at a drawing speed of 100 mm/
s without addition of lubricant were drawn through and
evaluated. Figure 3 shows the change in the coefficient of
friction μ with the drawing path of modelling tool A.
It is apparent from Fig. 3 that the newly developed VAlN
tool coating has very good tribological characteristics when
forming DP 800. The friction coefficient was less than
μ=0.09; there were no adhesion effects on the tool surface
and no scratches regardless of zinc wear of DP 800. At the
start of the test series, a certain diffusion/instability of the
determined coefficients of friction was observed during
formation of the tribologically active layer, but already, from
approx. 40,000 mm drawing path, the friction system
stabilised and the coefficient of friction was only μ=0.067–
0.077 up until the end of the trial.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501 497

Fig. 2 Strip draw test, normal

pressure up to 200 MPa [5]

It must be noted that by the less contact stress of 3–10 The arithmetical mean heights of drawing tool A rose
MPa, the friction coefficient amounted to μ=0.07 (drawing from Sa=0.183 to Sa =0.622–0.672 μm and stabilised
path 440 mm). from around 55,500 mm along the drawing path. The
root mean square heights Sq rose accordingly from Sq=0.24
3.2 Surface topography to Sq = 0.907–0.926 μm and stabilised from around
80,000 mm along the drawing path (Fig. 6). The measuring
Parallel to the strip drawing tests, the topography of the was made with an objective with ×50 magnification, for the
tool surface was determined using the μsurf mobil optical measurement field 320×320 μm; the dissolution in z
3D measuring system (manufactured by Nanofocus). The direction amounts to 2 nm, and in x,y direction, to 0.7 μm.
images are made by this device using confocal LED
microscopes (Fig. 4), whereby the ISO 25178 international
standard for characterization of the spatial 3D surface
structure [6] was observed in determining the parameters
(Fig. 5).
In contrast to the friction coefficient, the arithmetical
mean heights Sa and the mean root square height Sq of the
tool surface changed dramatically along the drawing path.

0,1

0,09

0,08
Friction coefficient µ

0,07

0,06

0,05

0,04
Coating: VAlN
0,03
Tool contact area: 150 mm²
0,02

0,01

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000

Drawing path in mm

Fig. 3 Coefficient of friction with drawing path. Sheet metal material,

DP 800; tool material, 1.2379; coating, VAlN (TZO); contact stress,
150 MPa; normal force, 22,500 N; drawing speed, 100 mm/s Fig. 4 Functional principle of the confocal measurement
498 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501

During this procedure, the mean values and the standard

Fig. 5 Tool surface with drawing path. Coating, VAlN. a Tool surface
after the coating. b Tool surface after 110,000 mm drawing path.
Measuring field, 320×320 μm; magnification, ×50
3.3 Hardness distribution
The change in nano-hardness of the tool surface is even
more pronounced. Figure 7 shows the distribution of the
universal hardness (Martens hardness HM) pertaining to the
indentation depth of the tested modelling tool A in
comparison to unstressed reference tool B. Hardness
measurements were carried out and evaluated at the IFU
using the PICODENTOR HM 500 (test load, 300 mN/20 s).
deviations of the material parameters of two contact areas
on each drawing tool were determined, each with nine
measuring points.
The indentation process of the Vickers pyramid during
the hardness measurement is displayed in Fig. 7a. The
material to be tested (drawing tool) is formed under the
pyramid-shaped penetrator (diamond) both plastically (inden-
tation depth hc) as well as elastically (indentation depth he). It
therefore follows that the indentation surface lying on the
penetrator, and which therefore transfers the force, is solely
determined by the plastic indentation depth hc: AS(hc).
However, only the sum hc +he of the plastic and elastic
components under force can be measured [7]. HM is
therefore calculated as follows: HM ¼ ASFðhÞ. AS(h) is the
surface of the penetrator up to the distance h from the tip.
Note that the measured indentation depth h=hc +he also
includes the elastic component. Surface AS(h) is therefore
larger than the real contact area AS(hc).
In Fig. 7b, a significant difference can be recognised
between the hardness values of drawing tools A and B in
the topmost area up to approx. 800–1,000 nm away from
the surface. For the unstressed, VAlN-coated tool surface,
the HM=14,700–13,630 MPa at an indentation depth of
100–300 nm (drawing tool B); after a drawing path of
110,000 mm, the Martens hardness drops to HM=6,500–
7,200 MPa (drawing tool A).
To explain the cause in this drop in hardness, both
drawing tools were examined by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) combined with energy-dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) (Fig. 8a, b). It was proven
that in comparison to drawing tool B, the largest peaks of
the elements of the tool coating (Al, V and N) had either
disappeared on drawing tool A or had considerably lost in
intensity. Furthermore, new chromium (Cr) and iron (Fe)
peaks appeared on the measured EDX spectra of the
drawing tool, which could be assigned according to tool
material .2379 and sheet metal material DP 800. It can

Fig. 6 Change of arithmetical 1

mean height Sa and the mean arithmetical mean height Sa
0,9
root square height Sq of the tool mean root square height Sq
Surface parameters in µm

surface along the drawing path. 0,8

Sheet metal material, DP 800; 0,7
tool material, 1.2379; coating,
0,6
VAlN (TZO); contact stress,
150 MPa; drawing speed, 0,5
100 mm/s 0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0
0 27750 55500 83250 111000
Drawing path in mm
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501 499

a b

PICODENTOR
HM500

Fig. 7 a Principle of instrumented indentation test compliant to DIN EN ISO 14577. b Hardness distribution. Drawing tool A: drawing path
110,000 mm at 150 MPa. Drawing tool B: drawing path: 0 mm (unstressed)

therefore be concluded that at some locations of the tool 3.4 Wear evaluation of the VAlN tool coating
surface (drawing tool A) during the drawing path with
150 MPa contact stress, there occurs a sheet metal material Finally, an evaluation of the tool was made after the strip
transfer together with severe wear to the VAlN coating drawing trials with specific wear values. To this end, the
right up to the substrate of the tool. function parameter (volumes) was determined together
Fig. 8 a Element distribution
on drawing tool B. Tool materi-
al, 1.2379. Coating, VAlN. b
Element distribution on drawing
tool A after the drawing path,
110,000 mm. Contact stress,
150 MPa. Tool material, 1.2379.
Coating, VAlN. Examination
methods, EDXS and SEM
500
0,7
0,6
Amount of wear Wv in µm³/µm²
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0 27750 55500
Drawing path in mm
Fig. 9 Amount of wear with drawing path. Sheet metal material, DP
800; tool material, 1.2379; coating, VAlN (TZO); contact stress,
150 MPa; drawing speed, 100 mm/s
with height parameters Sa and Sq. The core material
volumes Wmc of the tool surface along the drawing path
were taken as the wear volumes. The amounts of wear
were very small and hindered by zinc wear of DP 800.
For this reason, the tool surface was cleaned carefully
before the measurements with acetone and ethanol. The
measurements themselves were made and evaluated in
the same areas as the hardness measurement at nine
different locations; the measuring field of each measure-
ment was 0.320×0.320 mm (Figs. 7 and 8).
The non-linear increase of the total amount of wear (Wv) up
to Wv =0.68 μm³/μm² can be seen in Fig. 9. From a drawing
path of approx. 55,000, the value of Wv stabilises until it
starts to drop at a drawing path of 83,250 to Wv =0.62–
0.66 μm³/μm². By comparing the amount of wear with
friction behaviour (Fig. 3), it can be seen that an increase of
Wv comes along with instability of the determined coef-
ficients of friction. That means that during forming of the
tribological layer in the drawing process, a strong wear of the
VAlN-coated tool is taking place.
Table 1 summarises the rate of wear KVR , the wear
performance figure KVK, the wear coefficient according to
Archard KAr and the wear factor KVK [8, 9] of a VAlN-
coated tool 1.2379 after a drawing path of s=110 m. During
this procedure, the friction coefficient was μ=0.07, the
Table 1 Evaluation of the wear
Wear rate Wear performance
(mm³/m) figure (μm³/Nm)
KVR ¼ dW dS
v
KVK ¼ mFdWN d
v
S
7 10
4:4  10 2:7  10
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501
normal force was FN =22,500 N (Fig. 1) and the hardness
was 1,800 HV0.03.
One of the research goals was to evaluate the wear of the
new VAlN tool coating. Therefore, the authors of the paper
tried to compare the wear resistance of a VAlN-coated tool and
an uncoated tool 1.2379. Unfortunately, a strong adhesion
took part at 5-MPa contact stress by strip drawing with the
uncoated tool. That is why the wear rate, wear performance
figure, wear coefficient and wear factor of the uncoated tool
1.2379 cannot be calculated. Currently, it is being worked on
conducting further research on the VAlN ternary coating
systems by adding carbon (C) as a fourth element. With that, a
83250 111000
higher resistance to wear while drawing high-strength sheet
metals shall be achieved.
4 Summary
The investigations have shown that multifunctional meta-
stable nanocrystalline super-hard layers have good proper-
ties to be used as tool coatings for deep drawing of high-
strength steels. The new developed metastable VAlN tool
coating shows good tribological characteristics for contact
pressures of 3–10 MPa when drawing sheet material DP
800 without additional lubrication. The considerably
increased contact pressure up to 150 MPa during the strip
drawing test makes it possible to quantify the wear of the
VAlN tool coating when drawing DP 800, using a relatively
low number of tests and a relatively small amount of sheet
metal material. The wear behaviour was determined by the
change of tool surface topography after a drawing path of
110 m. The coating wear was particularly perceptible
through a loss of hardness in the upper ranges up to a
depth of 500 nm. By using EDXS, it was visible that the
loss of hardness could be explained by the reduction of the
main elements (Al, V and N) of the tool coating and by a
transfer of sheet metal material into the tool coating. The
longer the drawing path, the more sheet metal material was
found in the tool coating. Within the next step, the wear of
the VAlN ternary coating by adding carbon will be tested.
The experimental method, suggested in this paper, allows to
conduct quantitative cost-efficient wear investigations and a
direct comparison of newly developed super-hard tool
coatings for deep drawing of high-strength sheet metals.
Acknowledgements These examinations were carried out within the
framework of the "Innovative methods for designing forming tools in
vehicle construction" project (IMAUF). This research and develop-
Wear coefficient Wear factor ment project is financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and
acc. to Archard Research (German: BMBF) within the conceptual framework "Re-
search for the production of tomorrow" under grant ID 02PU2000, as
dW v H
KAr ¼ dW vH
FN dS KVF ¼ mF N dS
well as being supported by the project organisation, Karlsruhe
8
3:56  10 2:52  107 (German: PTKA), in the field of production and manufacturing
technologies (German: PFT).
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:495–501
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