Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy
Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy
(OP)
I have warm-formed AZ31 sheet material. The lubricant used during the warm-forming process remains on the surface and is hard to remove. What method(s) would be best to characterize and study the oil layer? We think the oil may have underwent a chemical reaction with the surface of the Mg, and we need to determine whether this is the case or not.
The oil is preventing a subsequent conversion coating from maintaining its integrity through the remainder of the production process.
We have several options for characterization available including XRD, SEM, TEM, STEM, FTIR, FIR, optical, etc...
Thanks for any help you can give!
The oil is preventing a subsequent conversion coating from maintaining its integrity through the remainder of the production process.
We have several options for characterization available including XRD, SEM, TEM, STEM, FTIR, FIR, optical, etc...
Thanks for any help you can give!





RE: Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy
To answer your direct question, SEM and EDS would be the first technique I would use for characterizing the surface. Any reaction should be limited to the magnesium hydroxide surface layer, and not directly to the primary Mg. Elemental mapping within the SEM together with the contrast provided by backscatter electron mode should prove useful. If you have access to Auger Electron Spectroscopy, then this would be ideal for characterizing the change in elemental composition through the reaction layer.
RE: Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy
RE: Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy
The main issue is there is no more of this batch of base material without the rolling lubricant, and there is no material with the lubricant prior to warm-forming - so we have to reverse engineer the process. I will try EDS, but I was warned that due to baking there will probably be a great number of irrelevant carbon compounds. I will also try the FTIR swab.
Thank you, again for the help. I'm new to the forum - I'm very happy to have stumbled upon this resource.
RE: Characterizing forming lubricant on Magnesium alloy