AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

2012, Science Hu, http://www.scihub.org/AJSIR

ISSN: 2153-649X, doi:10.5251/ajsir.2012.3.5.270.276

Tribometric evaluation of rubber seed oil lubricant in upset forging

* Oseni M. I., Gundu D. T. and Enenta A.Z.
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Agriculture, P. M. B. 2373, Makurdi, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Tribometric evaluation of rubber (Hevea brasiliences) seed oil lubricant in upset forging was
carried out. Upset forging was simulated with ring compression tests using Plasticine as model
material and the rubber and reference oil samples as lubricant. The oils were applied to various
die/ring surface combinations as they were compressed in the California Bearing Ratio (CBR)
machine. Results show that friction factors for rubber seed oil ranging from =0.20 to = 0.577
compare favorably with the values for reference mineral base oil (0.29-0.42). Friction factors
obtained from ring compression tests for the rubber seed oil are within the range of natural oil
lubricants (groundnut oil; 0.072-0.5, palm oil;. 0.3, palm kernel oil; 0.084 and sheanut oil; 0.092).
Rubber seed oil can therefore be used as a substitute for mineral base oils that are currently in
use as lubricants in upset forging. Industrial organizations will derive immense benefit from this
source of environment friendly, biodegradable and low toxicity oil lubricant.
Key words: Tribometric, evaluation, rubber seed oil, lubricant, upset forging.
INTRODUCTION
Forging processes utilize compressive forces applied
through various dies and tools to obtain desired
shapes of work pieces during production. Metal flow
and grain structure of forged parts can be controlled
using good lubricants to obtain high strength and
toughness. Mineral oil lubricants predominantly in
use due to inherent lubricity and low cost are being
deemphasized due to environmental awareness.
There is a new world trend towards renewable
energy sources and shift from mineral oil base
lubricants to natural oils because of their abundance
and ease of processing, high flash point, low toxicity,
environmental friendliness and ease of regeneration
through through short rotation plantations.
Natural oils are currently under investigation as
alternative lubricants for upset forging operations
because of their biodegradability and environmental
friendliness derived from their amphiphilic nature
(Sharma et al. 2005). Rubber seed oil from seeds of
rubber tree (Hevea brasiliences) is the natural oil of
interest in this study. Rubber plantations available in
the southern parts of Nigeria yield seeds that are
wasted annually.
Oyinola (1984) investigated the friction performance
of sheanut oil, groundnut oil and palm kernel oil as
lubricants in upset forging using ring compression
test and obtained 0.092, 0.072 and 0.084 friction
factors for sheanut oil, groundnut oil and palm kernel

oil respectively and concluded that these oils are

amenable to upgrading to industrial lubricants.
Nnuka et al. (2003) using ring compression test with
plasticine as model material investigated the friction
performance of groundnut oil, palm oil and sheanut
oil as lubricants in upset forging and obtained 0.5, 0.3
and 0.068 friction factors for groundnut oil, palm oil
and sheanut oil respectively. Using phosphorus as
additive in a tribo-chemical process, Erhan et al.
(2004) investigated tribo-chemical behavior of
soybean oil as industrial lubricant and observed that
the phosphorus was chemically transformed into a
phosphate-ester based protective layer in the
presence of fatty acids to enhance the wear
properties of the soybean oil. Castro et al. (2006)
studied the oxidation and wear properties of soybean
oil without additive using sequential four ball wear
test and micro oxidation test and concluded that good
wear performance and oxidation stability of oils can
be obtained by composition-dependent additive
selection.
The present study investigated rubber seed oil
lubricant in upset forging using ring compression test
with plasticine as model material and compared with
some mineral base industrial oils.
Open-die forging (upsetting) is the simplest form of
forging process, in which a solid work piece is placed
between two flat dies and reduced in height by
compressing it, thus, achieving an upsetting process
or flat-die forging. The die surfaces in open-die

Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2012, 3(5): 270-276

forging may have simple cavities to produce relatively

simple forgings. The deformation of the work piece
under ideal conditions will have a constant volume,
which is maintained, and any reduction in height
increases the diameter of the part developing a barrel
shape (Kalpakjian, 1992; Black and Kopalinsky,
1993). The barreling is caused primarily by frictional
forces at the die-work piece interfaces that oppose
the outside flow of the materials at these interfaces
and can be minimized if an effective lubricant is used.
An effective lubricant can separate, cool and protect
the interacting surfaces against heat generated by
friction and oxidation (Arnell et al 1991; Arezo,
1983). The rheo-thermal and chemo-physical
properties that influence the choice of lubricants
include; specific gravity, specific heat capacity and
viscosity-temperature coefficient among others
(Litt,1986).

Kalpakjian (1992) noted that there is a critical friction

value at which the internal diameter increases if
coefficient of frictions is low or decreases if coefficient
of friction is high. Each ring geometry has its own
specific set of curves. The most common geometry
has outer diameter to inner diameter to height
proportions of the specimen as 6:3:2 respectively
though the actual size of the specimen usually is not
relevant in these tests. By measuring the change in
the specimens internal diameter and height a
relationship is obtained for various frictional factors
on a calibration chart. The ring compression test
does not require any force measurements it involves
large-scale deformation of the work-piece material.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The ring compression test consisting of series of
tests involving the upsetting of various specimens of
plasticine modeling material was carried out at room
0
temperature (30 C).

The basic approach in physical modeling centers on

the simulation of an actual metal forming operation by
using model work-pieces and dies under conditions
similar to those in actual production system. The
model specimen is a scaled version of the actual one
made from an easily deformed material e. g.
Plasticine, which can be formed between a set of inexpensive dies which bear similarity to the actual
forming tool as well. The model dies surfaces are
usually made of steel, aluminium, sandpaper, wood,
or plexiglass.

Crude RSO was extracted using solvent extraction

from rubber seeds obtained at PAMOL Rubber
Plantation, Calabar, Nigeria.
A wooden mould of 100 mm width,120 mm length
and 100 mm height in which is centred a 24 mm
diameter center stud, positioned centrally by
geometric bisection of the base wood was made from
fine iroko wood. A hollow 72 mm external diameter
with a thickness of 10 mm leaving an internal
diameter of 62 mm was made to house the center
stud on the base wood. The hollow mould was 46mm
in height (dimensions were chosen on the basis of
size of the sample holder of the compressing
machine used while maintaining a standard thickness
of 10 mm) . Between the hollow wood and the center
rod (wood), plasticine purchased from the open
market in Jos, Nigeria was introduced. 25 plasticine
rings of average height of 46.5 mm and internal
diameter 25.0 mm were produced from the moulds
and allowed to dry for 48 hours.

Accurate physical modeling requires that factors such

as physical properties similarity, proportional flow
stresses, equivalent friction conditions and thermal
similarity conditions be met but practically it is difficult
to find a model material that can meet these
conditions. Physical model results therefore
represent approximations in various acceptable
degrees to the actual metal working parts. Ring
compression test utilizing plasticine as model
material to a large extent, satisfies these conditions
(Nnuka et al. 2003). The friction factor-index in steels
is measured by Ring-Compression tests on scaled
steel ring specimens using presses and flat dies for
production of forgings (Sooa, 1983, Arezo, 1983 and
Czichos, 1978).

The plasticine rings were each placed between the

two die surfaces of a Califonia Bearing Ratio (CBR)
compressing machine (Model EL 24-9183, 28KN
Load Ring) with rubber seed oil (RSO) and three
types of standard mineral base oils (SAE 40, REGAL
32 and RANDO 68) as reference lubricants. The CBR
machine was used to conduct the experiments in the
Materials laboratory of the Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Agriculture, Makurdi. The
two die surfaces of the machine were each lined with
sand paper and smooth paper to simulate five
possible die plasticine ring interface conditions viz.

The ring compression test has gained wide

acceptance particularly for bulk deformation process
such as forging. In the test, a flat ring is compressed
plastically between two flat dies. If friction at the
interfaces is zero, both the inner and outer diameters
of the ring expand as if it were a solid disk. With
increasing friction, the inner diameter becomes
smaller. For a particular reduction in height,

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Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2012, 3(5): 270-276

steel- steel, steel sandpaper, steel paper,

sandpaper sandpaper and sandpaper paper.

treated with additives to enhance their performance

properties.

A constant load of 10N was applied to the specimens

in the moulds and reduction in height and internal
diameter was determined under various frictional
conditions comprising dry condition without lubricant
and lubrication of the die plasticine ring interfaces
with RSO, reference oil lubricants SAE40, REGAL 32
and RANDO 68. Percentage reduction in height and
internal diameter were computed using Equations (1)
and (2). The friction factor of a ring compression test
was obtained by plotting the measured values of
reduction in height, Rht and reduction in diameter RID
on the calibration chart.

Rubber seed oil as lubricant yielded coefficient of

friction between 0.20 and 0.577 for all die surfaces at
constant deformation forces. The coefficient of friction
for rubber seed oil for SPA1 i. e. sandpaper sandpaper interfaces (0.577) compared to SAE 40
(0.577) was inadequate. This performance did not
appreciably deviate from the control condition (dry
condition). S2 ( steel - steel interfaces) yielded a
coefficient of friction of 0.577 for rubber seed oil while
SAE 40 yielded 0.40. It was observed that rubber
seed oil was very effective in reducing friction
between steel - sandpaper interface die materials (
= 0.20) when compared with SAE 40 ( = 0.40).
Under this condition, RSO would perform well as
lubricant in upset forging since the higher the
coefficient of friction, the higher the tendency of the
plasticine ring to stick to the paper - die interface
(Nnuka et al. 2003) . S1 (steel to steel dry condition)
yielded a coefficient of friction of 0.577 similar to
SPA1 (sand paper /sand paper) lubrication condition
because of the high roughness of the sand paper;
hence the coefficient of friction obtained was a
reflection of the roughness condition of the die
surfaces. Steel - steel die surface combination under
lubrication condition had moderate friction values
(0.25-0.40) because of stronger adsorption of the oil
on metal surfaces and the dependence of coefficient
of friction on the adsorption energy of the lubricant
(Erhan et al. 2004). DP4 (sand paper - paper die
interface) had the lowest coefficient of friction (0.12)
possibly because the presence of the paper
prevented the formation of an adsorbent oil film
thereby maintaining slippery surface between the
plasticine ring and the paper - die interface.

Rht =

(HoH H) x 100

,%

(1)

HOH

RID=

(DoH D) x 100

,%

(2)

DOH
Where: HOH
compression

Ring height after compression

Ring height before

DOH
compression

Ring

inner

D
compression.

Ring

inner

diameter
diameter

before
after

The coefficients of friction were obtained from the

calibration chart in Figure 1 which was obtained from
theoretical analysis using the percentage reduction in
height and internal diameter ( Kalpakjian 1992).
Figure 2 shows the ring compression model.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Coefficient of friction for natural and mineral oil

lubricants obtained by other researchers (Nnuka et
al. 2003; Oyinlola, 1984; Takahasshi and Alexander,
1962) is shown in Table 2. RSO compared favorably
with coefficient of friction for ground nut oil and palm
oil obtained by Nnuka et al.(2003) but was
inadequate when compared with mineral base oils
because the mineral base oils had been treated with
various performance enhancing additives.

The computed values of friction factors and reduction

in height and internal diameter obtained by ring
compression tests of the plasticine rings for various
die interface and lubrication conditions are shown
in Table 1. The table shows the effect of varying die
conditions on friction factors () under dry and
lubricated conditions. In Table 1 friction factor of
0.577 was obtained under dry condition for all die
plasticine interfaces except DP1 (sandpaper paper)
which yielded 0.40. The reduction of coefficient of
friction at the interface may be due to the
smoothness of the paper surface at the interface.
All reference oils used as lubricants yielded
coefficients of friction between 0.12 and 0.40 for all
die conditions except SPA3 which gave 0.577. This is
probably because these reference oils have been

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Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2012, 3(5): 270-276

Table 1 Values of Friction Factors in Upset Forging of Plasticine Ring Model with Rubber Seed Oil, SAE 40, REGAL 32 and
RANDO 68 as Lubricants
Load = 10N
S/N
Test
Die
Die
Lubricant
Av.
Av.
Av.
Av.
Av.
Av.
Friction
No.
Material Surface
Ho
Do
H
D
%Rh
%Rd
Factor
Material
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)
()
1
S1
Steel
Steel
Dry
46.50
25.0
32.70
16.70
30
33
0.577
2 S2
Steel
Steel
RSO
46.50
25.0
32.20
19.30
31
23
0.577
3 S3
Steel
Steel
SAE 40
46.50
25.0
28.40
16.80
39
34
0.40
4 S4
Steel
Steel
REGAL 32
46.50
25.0
29.92
20.0
33
20
0.25
5 S5
Steel
Steel
RANDO 68
46.50
25.0
31.85
20.0
31
20
0.30
6 SP1
Steel
Sand paper Dry
46.5
25.0
31.7
16.5
32
9
0.577
7 SP2
Steel
Sand paper RSO
46.50
25.0
33.30
22.80
28
20
0.20
8 SP3
Steel
Sand paper SAE 40
46.50
25.0
32.70
19.80
30
20
0.40
9 SP4
Steel
Sand paper REGAL 32
46.50
25.0
29.78
19.0
36
24
0.40
10 SP5
Steel
Sand paper RANDO 68
46.50
25.0
31.95
18.98
31
24
0.40
11 PA1
Steel
Paper
Dry
46.50
25.0
38.50
18.80
17
25
0.577
12 PA2
Steel
Paper
RSO
46.50
25.0
35.10
19.30
25
23
0.40
13 PA3
Steel
Paper
SAE 40
46.50
25.0
30.70
20.40
34
18
0.30
14 PA4
Steel
Paper
REGAL 32
46.50
25.0
30
9
36
24
0.40
15 PA5
Steel
Paper
RANDO 68
46.50
25.0
33
21
29
16
0.30
16 SPA1
Sand paper Sand paper Dry
46.50
25.0
39.70
21.30
15
15
0.577
17 SPA2
Sand paper
Sand paper RSO
46.50
25.0
38.80
19.40
17
22
0.577
18 SPA3
Sand paper
Sand paper SAE 40
46.50
25.0
32.10
18.70
31
25
0.577
19 SPA4
Sand paper
Sand paper REGAL 32
46.50
25.0
32
15
31
20
0.30
20 SPA5
Sand paper
Sand paper RANDO 68
46.50
25.0
32
19
31
24
0.40
21 DP1
Sand paper
Paper
Dry
46.50
25.0
31.80
19.50
32
22
0.40
22 DP2
Sand paper
Paper
RSO
46.50
25.0
39.8
18.8
14
25
0.577
23 DP3
Sand paper
Paper
SAE 40
46.50
25.0
33.70
19.60
28
22
0.40
24 DP4
Sand paper
Paper
REGAL 32
46.50
25.0
31.80
22.80
31
9
0.12
25 DP5
Sand paper
Paper
RANDO 68
46.50
25.0
34
21
27
16
0.40
Av. - Average

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Table 2 Summary of Coefficient of Friction Obtained by Other Researchers Under Various Lubrication Conditions
S/N

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Lubricant

No Lubrication
Groundnut Oil
Shear nut Oil
Palm Oil
SAE 40
Calcium Carbonate
Palm Kernel Oil
Parafin Oil
Parafin Oil 5% Lead
Oleate
SAE 10
RSO
REGAL 32
RANDO 68

Nnukas
Values ()
0.733
0.500
0.068
0.300
0.45
0.725
-

Oyinolas
Values ()

Present
Work ()

0.072
0.092
0.084
-

0.577
0.42
-

0.47
0.29
0.36

274

Takaffashi and
Alexanders Values ()

Wihittons and
Fords Values ()

0.198

0.081

0.055
0.070
-

0.056
0.082
-

Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2012, 3(5): 270-276

W
H

HOH
W
W

(b)

DOH
H

(a)
W
D
(c)

Fig 22 Ring
RingCompression
Compression
Test
(a) Original
specimen
(b) lubrication
Poor lubrication
Good lubrication
Fig
Test
(a) Original
specimen
(b) Poor
(c) Good(c)
lubrication

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Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2012, 3(5): 270-276

wear, Tribology Series 1, New York, Elsevier Scientific

publishing Company.

CONCLUSION
The coefficient of friction obtained for RSO
demonstrated that it was amenable to use as a
lubricant in upset forging and other boundary
lubrication conditions with little upgrading using
performance enhancing additives. The ring
compression test revealed RSO as capable of low to
moderate temperature application as boundary
lubricant. The apparent difference between friction
factors obtained for RSO and the reference oils is
attributed to the processed condition of the reference
oils.

Erhan, S., Adhvaryu, A. and Sharma, B. (2004) Tribochemical Behavior of Bio-Fluids as Lubricants and
Industrial Oils. Natural Centre for Agricultural
Utilization Research, Food
and
Industrial
Oil
Research, Penn State University, United States of
America.
Kalpakjian, S. (1992) Manufacturing Engineering and
nd
Technology, 2
Ed, New York, Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company.
Litt, F. A. (1986) Viscosity Systems. Journal of American
Society of Lubrication Engineers, 1(42): 32-33

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Performance Characteristics of Local Oils as
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