Investigation of tribological performance of hydrothermal carbon by pin-on-disc test and warm deep drawing process

Abstract In this study, the synthesis of hydrothermal carbon (HTC) lubricant and its usability as a lubricant under hot industrial conditions were investigated. In this context, the characterization of HTC produced from organic sources at low cost and in a short time was performed, and its tribological performance was analysed in detail. HTC produced by the hydrothermal carbonization method was characterized through SEM images and EDS analysis. To determine the effect of HTC on friction at different temperatures, HTC was subjected to a pin-on-disc wear test with AA5754 material. The effect of various lubricants, temperatures, blank holder pressure, and forming speed parameters on the forming force for the analysis of the tribological effect of HTC on deep drawing processes were statistically analysed. The performance of HTC was compared with Teflon, fullerenes, graphene, and carbon nanotube (CNT) materials. According to the results obtained from wear tests, the lowest friction coefficient value was achieved in the presence of fullerenes as the lubricant, and as the temperature increased, the friction coefficient decreased. It was observed that HTC exhibited lower performance in the wear test compared to fullerenes due to oxidation. When the effect of deep drawing parameters on the forming force was analysed, it was concluded that the most effective parameters were temperature (72.32%) and lubricant (20.89%). According to the S/N analysis results, the minimum forming force was obtained under the conditions of solid Teflon lubricant, 250 °C temperature, 15-bar blank holder pressure, and 2 mm/s forming speed. The tribological performance difference between HTC and Teflon is at the 1% level. The results demonstrate the potential industrial usability of HTC as a lubricant.