Friction measurement in powder die compaction by shear plate technique

The paper explores the use of a shear plate technique to measure the frictional characteristics between a compacted powder and a target surface. The study confirms that the shear plate technique is valid to measure these frictional characteristics and that any variability in the data is a physical characteristic of the powder being tested. Surface roughness and hardness were explored fully for both iron and an alumina powder. This confirmed the major impacts of surface hardness, roughness, and roughness orientation on the friction coefficient. The static and dynamic values were found to be a minimum for the hardest surface (tungsten carbide). With regard to static friction, benefit may be obtained by using a very smooth surface finish, however, the minimum level of dynamic friction coefficient is not always associated with the smoothest surface.