Page 42 - MetalForming-Oct-2018-issue

Lubrication Challenges
Magnesium 101
• Magnesium
- Third most commonly used structural metal after steel and aluminum - Mainly used for making aluminum alloys
- Lightest metal used in the production of structural components
- Extremely high strength-to-weight ratio
- Used for making wheels, radiator supports and engine blocks
- Alloys among the easiest metals to machine
- High thermal conductivity and dissipates heat rapidly
- Sometimes machined dry without using any sort of metalworking fluid
• Water-based fluids can stain magnesium more easily than they can aluminum or zinc.
• Direct contact between magnesium and water can release flammable hydrogen gas. Aerating the fluid can minimize this.
• Newer water-based fluids use slightly unstable emulsions that deposit a thin oil coating onto the metal surface, which limits contact with water.
• Magnesium corrosion generates heat, so drums full of scrap or chips can catch fire.
• Magnesium fires are very hot and difficult to extinguish—using water or a carbon- dioxide fire extinguisher actually feeds the flame, sometimes explosively so.
Source: Randy Sebastian, Houghton International
up with the regulatory changes while reducing the amount of reformulation work, fluid development begins by finding “a basket of raw materials that we can use in five or six different regions,” he says.
Carmody notes that many of Houghton’s customers want products that they can use in most or all of their locations around the world. Some- times, however, specialized regional formulations are required to accom- modate differences in things such as water quality, she adds.
MWF Market
Competition and regulation come together to drive changes in MWFs, McClure says. Changes in fluid formu- lations, driven not only by new demands from parts manufacturers (who, in turn, are driven by market- place and regulatory demands), also are pushed by new product offerings from the chemical companies’ R&D labs. “I hear from both sides,” says McClure.
It’s not enough just to watch overall industry trends, says Chuck Faulkner, Houghton’s product marketing manager for metalforming, forging and heat- treatment.
“We watch it all,” he says. “Individual
As materials and alloys change, the processes for working with them must change as well.
OEMs do things differently. We work with colleagues all around the world, and they all work with different mate- rials and processes.”
In a 2016 press release, Gaia Fran- zolin, global marketing manager for Swedish specialty-oil manufacturer Nynas, cited a prediction for a 5.5-per- cent global increase in demand for pri- vate cars and light commercial vehicles over the next 5 years. Franzolin pre- dicted a concurrent growth in demand for MWFs, driven in part by new mate- rials such as lightweight aluminum and titanium alloys for weight reduction and fuel efficiency. “Ultimately, it’s important to remember that techno- logical advancements also bring the need for improved MWF performance (longevity and stability). And, their lower consumption will be compen- sated by higher costs and improved tool life,” she says.
Lubrication: Looking Ahead
Budai notes that the trend to reduce weight in automotive powertrains con- tinues, with the downsizing of engines from V8 engines to V6 and I4 engines and the addition of turbocharging. The smaller turbocharged gasoline engines generate more heat, which raises the under-hood temperature. A few years ago, he says, OEM manufacturers were replacing steel engine parts with ther- moplastics, but now some of the com- monly used thermoplastics can’t always deal with the higher heat. So, alu- minum and magnesium are, in some cases, seen as more cost-efficient alter- natives for replacing the higher-priced, high-performance thermoplastics.
Kim sees a role for polymer com- posites; he notes that the aerospace industry uses carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites, in addition to aluminum, titanium and HSS. Automaker BMW uses some CFRP composites in its passenger compart- ments but not for structural compo- nents, Kim says. Because CFRPs are so easy to form, the aerospace industry has moved from steel to aluminum and then toward CFRP. It is possible that the automotive industry could follow this trajectory as well.
As challenging as today’s high- speed, high-temperature manufactur- ing processes are, even bigger changes are on the horizon. Carmody notes that the aerospace industry is beginning to use 3D printing for prototyping and part production, and the medical industry already uses 3D printing with metals and composites to make joint replacements. Printed automotive components would require no process- ing fluids, and complex parts could be formed as one solid piece, with little to no need for machining, forming, stamping or other processes that gen- erate heat and waste material.
The challenges involved in integrat- ing these new materials and processes into efficient, reliable vehicles are becoming increasingly complex. Fluid formulators who work with the auto- motive industry clearly have their work cut out for them. MF
40 MetalForming/October 2018
www.metalformingmagazine.com