Experimental determination of the friction coefficient on the workpiece-fixture contact surface in workholding applications

Surface flatness, geometric integrity and micro-surface finish characteristics are crucial for automotive industry to properly seal joints, reduce leakage and consequently increasing engines efficiency and reducing emissions. Optimum fixture layout is a key element in achieving this goal. Machining of flexible parts impose further challenges to the selection of a proper fixture scenario.Workpiece motion arising from localized elastic deformation at the workpiece/fixture contacts due to machining and clamping forces significantly affect the workpiece location accuracy and hence the machined part quality. The tangential friction force plays an important role in fixture configuration design as it can be utilized to reduce the number of fixture components, thereby the workpiece features accessibility to machining operations and providing a damping mechanism to dissipate input energy from machining forces out of the workpiece/fixture system.Although the literature is full of research on friction and its application, it lacks research that relates to the contact found in workpiece/fixture systems. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of the workpiece/fixture contact characteristics.