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OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to study the possible associations between exposure to elevated levels of air pollution, ozone (O(3)) and vehicle exhaust (NO(x)), during early gestation, and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-eclampsia, preterm birth and small for gestational age. DESIGN: Prospective register-based cohort study. SETTING: The Swedish Medical Birth Register includes data on all deliveries during 1998 to 2006 in Greater Stockholm, Sweden. The national Patient Register and the Prescribed Drug Register were used to collect information on maternal asthma. PARTICIPANTS: All singleton pregnancies, conceived at the earliest in August 1997 and at the latest in February 2006, were included, n=120 755. OUTCOME MEASURES: We studied preterm birth, small for gestational age and pre-eclampsia. RESULTS: 4.4% of pregnancies resulted in a preterm birth. The prevalence of pre-eclampsia was 2.7%. We observed an association between first trimester O(3) and preterm birth (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.08) as well as an association with pre-eclampsia (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.08), per 10 µg/m(3) increase in O(3). We observed no association between first trimester NO(x) and adverse pregnancy outcomes. No associations were observed between any of the air pollutants and small for gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: Increased levels of O(3) during the first trimester increased the risk of pre-eclampsia and preterm birth. Air pollutants did not exhibit any effects on fetal growth restriction. We estimated 1 in every 20 cases of pre-eclampsia to be associated with O(3) exposure.

The construction industry is a business with an intense flow of both material and information that require well-functioning logistics in order to not suffer from unnecessarily high costs. Suppliers play a big part regarding the costs of the distribution and handling of material and due to this a construction project’s costs are affected a great deal by the suppliers’ actions. Spinnrocken is a construction project in the town center of Norrköping. The real estate company Fastighets AB L E Lundbergs is the client and the construction company Skanska is contracted as sole constructor for the project. Spinnrocken is planned to be finalized in the summer of 2014 and consists of several rental-apartments and some smaller businesses. Spinnrocken and its central location result in major logistic challenges, because of this Lundbergs and Skanska want to analyze and evaluate the project’s logistic performance. The main purpose of this thesis is to measure the order fulfillment of interior materials, the scaffold material Doka and windows at Spinnrocken by using the so-called perfect order fulfillment measure, as defined in Supply Chain Operations Reference Model. Perfect order fulfillment indicates the delivery performance to the construction site.The combined perfect order fulfillment for the three investigated materials is 18 %. A perfect order fulfillment of 18 % means that only one out of five inspected deliveries to Spinnrocken was considered having no faults at all. The effects of a low perfect order fulfillment are disruptions in the short-term time schedule, delayed operations, additional work and that the work space at the construction site is occupied by unnecessary construction material. The resulting effects thereby affects the project’s economy negatively.

There is growing evidence of adverse birth outcomes due to exposure to air pollution during gestation. However, recent negative studies are also reported. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of ozone and vehicle exhaust exposure (NO2) on the length of the gestational period and risk of preterm delivery. We used data from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry on all vaginally delivered singleton births in the Greater Stockholm area who were conceived during 1987–1995 (n = 115,588). Daily average levels of NO2 (from three measuring stations) and ozone (two stations) were used to estimate trimester and last week of gestation average exposures. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between the two air pollutants and three exposure windows, while logistic regression models were used when analyzing associations with preterm delivery ( < 37 weeks gestation). Five percent were born preterm. The median gestational period was 40 weeks. Higher levels of ozone during the first trimester were associated with shorter gestation as well as with an elevated risk of preterm delivery, the odds ratio from the most complex model was 1.06 (95% CI: 1.00–1.13) per 10 μg/m3 increase in the mean daily 8-h maximum concentration. Higher levels of ozone during the second trimester were associated with shorter gestation but the elevated risk of preterm delivery was not statistically significant. Higher levels of ozone and NO2 during the last week of gestation were associated with a shorter duration of gestation and NO2 also with preterm delivery. There were no significant associations between first and second trimester NO2 exposure estimates and studied outcomes. The effect of first trimester ozone exposure, known to cause oxidative stress, was smallest among women who conceived during autumn when vitamin D status, important for fetal health, in Scandinavian women is the highest.Keywords: pregnancy; preterm birth; vehicle emissions; ozone; nitrogen dioxide

Luftföroreningar är ett känt folkhälsoproblem i tätorter där trafiken oftast är den största enskilda emissionskällan. Det finns dock andra källor som lokalt kan ge upphov till höga luftföroreningshalter och en sådan är småskalig biobränsleeldning. För att begränsa hälsoeffekterna av luftföroreningar finns normvärden reglerade i lagstiftning, och övervakningen av dessa kan ske via mätningar eller olika typer av beräkningar. Syftet med projekt har varit att tillämpa en typ av statistisk beräkningsmodell, ”Land Use Regression (LUR)”, för att predicera halterna av luftföroreningarna bensen och 1,3-butadien i ett antal tätorter med hög andel småskalig biobränsleeldning i och omkring Umeå. Principen för en LUR-modell är att först förklara variationen i luftföroreningshalter mellan ett begränsat antal mätpunkter med skillnader i geografiska variabler, som t.ex. populationsdensitet och trafikflöde inom olika radier runt respektive mätplats. Sedan kan modellen användas för att beräkna halten i många fler punkter. I denna studie har bensen och 1,3-butadien mätts vid tre tillfällen på 39 olika mätpunkter. Geografisk information har samlats in för respektive mätpunkt, och innefattar bland annat trafikvariabler men även uppgifter om biobränsleeldning baserat på uppgifter från sotarregister. LUR-modellen har byggts upp i enlighet med den procedur som finns beskrivet inom ett stort europeiskt forskningsprojekt, ESCAPE. Rapporten visar att det är möjligt utifrån geografiska variabler att predicera halten bensen och 1,3-butadien i en given punkt med acceptabel precision. Resultaten visar också att befolkningstäthet tillsammans med småskalig biobränsleeldning och trafik är de variabler som gemensamt är viktigast för årsmedelhalten bensen och 1,3-butadien. Denna typ av modell är således tillämpbar för att kartlägga och predicera halter av bensen och 1,3-butadien i områden med småskalig biobränsleeldning. Modellen kan även användas för att studera betydelsen av nyetablering av småskali

BACKGROUND: A seasonal effect of month of birth and risk of allergic disease has been suggested by numerous studies. Few studies have directly measured pollen exposures at different points during pregnancy and in early life, and assessed their effects on risk of respiratory disease outcomes. METHODS: Pollen exposure was calculated for the first and last 12 weeks of pregnancy and the first 12 weeks of infancy for all children conceived by women residing in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1988 and 1995. Hospital admission data for respiratory conditions in the first year of life was also collected. RESULTS: Out of 110,381 children, 940 had been hospitalised for asthma by 12-months of age. Pollen levels showed both marked seasonal variations and between year differences. Exposure to high levels of pollen in the last 12 weeks of pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of asthma hospitalisation (aOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.07-1.71 for highest quartile versus remaining infants). Exposure to high levels of pollen in the first three months of life was associated with a reduced risk (aOR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.59-0.98) but only in children of heavy smoking mothers. CONCLUSIONS: High levels of pollen exposure during late pregnancy were somewhat unexpectedly associated with an elevated risk of hospitalisation for asthma within the first year of life.

Sammanfattning Luftföroreningar är ett känt folkhälsoproblem i tätorter där trafiken oftast är den största enskilda emissionskällan. Det finns dock andra källor som lokalt kan ge upphov till höga luftföroreningshalter och en sådan är småskalig biobränsleeldning. För att begränsa hälsoeffekterna av luftföroreningar finns normvärden reglerade i lagstiftning, och övervakningen av dessa kan ske via mätningar eller olika typer av beräkningar. Syftet med projekt har varit att tillämpa en typ av statistisk beräkningsmodell, ”Land Use Regression (LUR)”, för att predicera halterna av luftföroreningarna bensen och 1,3-butadien i ett antal tätorter med hög andel småskalig biobränsleeldning i och omkring Umeå. Principen för en LUR-modell är att först förklara variationen i luftföroreningshalter mellan ett begränsat antal mätpunkter med skillnader i geografiska variabler, som t.ex. populationsdensitet och trafikflöde inom olika radier runt respektive mätplats. Sedan kan modellen användas för att beräkna halten i många fler punkter. I denna studie har bensen och 1,3-butadien mätts vid tre tillfällen på 39 olika mätpunkter. Geografisk information har samlats in för respektive mätpunkt, och innefattar bland annat trafikvariabler men även uppgifter om biobränsleeldning baserat på uppgifter från sotarregister. LUR-modellen har byggts upp i enlighet med den procedur som finns beskrivet inom ett stort europeiskt forskningsprojekt, ESCAPE. Rapporten visar att det är möjligt utifrån geografiska variabler att predicera halten bensen och 1,3-butadien i en given punkt med acceptabel precision. Resultaten visar också att befolkningstäthet tillsammans med småskalig biobränsleeldning och trafik är de variabler som gemensamt är viktigast för årsmedelhalten bensen och 1,3-butadien. Denna typ av modell är således tillämpbar för att kartlägga och predicera halter av bensen och 1,3-butadien i områden med småskalig biobränsleeldning. Modellen kan även användas för att studera betydelsen av nyetabler

Being a remanufacturer of automotive components may be problematic due toproblems with a steady flow of cores. The flow could be secured by making agreementswith core suppliers, which could be an OEM, a core broker or another actor on themarket. The remanufacturer can also choose to collect the cores without closercollaboration. One crucial aspect in choosing how to collect the cores is that it has to belucrative.The aim of this paper is to explore how remanufacturers manage their interorganizationalrelationships in the closed-loop supply chain. A case study was conductedwithin the European research project CAN-Reman, and empirical data was collected fromsix participating companies within the project, all European remanufacturers ofautomotive components. These companies were investigated, and their relationships,defined in earlier research with core suppliers, were evaluated.A key finding of the research is that the most problematic parameter withinrelationships is to receive the ordered quantity of cores from the supplier. This parameteris continually ranked as one of the most important, and the participating companies alsoclaim that they have problems with it. A successful relationship and take-back system thathas been pointed out by one of the companies is to never be the owner of the actual cores,and only perform the remanufacturing activity for an OEM., CAN-Reman

This FInal Paper represents one of the final outputs of the 'European Polity Post Lisbon' project funded as part of a Jean Monnet Multinational Research Group project (of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme). The Paper introduces a Micro-Fusion Framework (MFF) in order to understand how the development, agreement and implementation of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty can be viewed by nation-states and perceived by national policymakers, institutions and elites. The Final Paper presents preliminary results of an empirical survey of British and Swedish policymakers involved with the Lisbon Treaty. The results of this investigation suggest that specific attention upon the degree and forms of national awareness, action, adaptation and attitudes among national elites and institutions offer academic value-added towards understanding of the future development of a post-Lisbon EU

Konkurrensen om studenter och resurser har ökat bland universiteten. För att klara av konkurrensen har universitet aktivt börjat arbeta med varumärkesbyggande för att skapa starka varumärken. Den största delen av forskningen om varumärken har bedrivits på kommersiella organisationer och den forskning som finns om universitets varumärken har inte studerat svenska universitet. Denna uppsats vill öka kunskapen om vad ett svenskt universitets varumärke kan bestå av, vilken betydelse ett varumärke kan få och hur det byggs samt vilka problem som kan uppstå. För att lyckas med detta har en fallstudie bedrivits på Örebro universitet. Studien bygger på kvalitativ data, som erhölls genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och visual card sorting methods. Data erhölls från 14 respondenter. Dessa respondenter representerar intressentgruppern studenter, fakulteten, ledningen, samarbetsorganisationer samt kommun/landsting då dessa är bland de mest betydelsefulla intressenterna för ett universitet. Denna uppsats kommer fram till att universitets varumärken är komplexa. Det finns flera olika faktorer som spelar in, kvalitet på utbildningar kan dock anses vara den enskilt viktigaste. Då universitet är tjänstevarumärke kan även mindre detaljer bli viktiga. Om ett universitet har ett starkt varumärke kan detta innebära många fördelar både för universitet och dess intressenter, tillexempel högre kvalitet och en bättre ekonomi. Det finns många risker och problem som kan uppstå när ett universitet arbetar med varumärkesbyggande. Dessa kan resultera i att varumärket skadas. Universitets varumärkesbyggande är således en balansgång då fördelarna med ett starkt varumärke måste väga upp kostnaderna och riskerna., Competition to obtain students and resources has increased among the universities. To cope with competition the universities actively started to work with brand building to create a strong brand. The bulk of research on brands has however been conducted on commercial organizations and the research available on universities brands have not studied Swedish universities. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of what a Swedish university's brand may consist of, the importance of the brand, how it is built and the problems that may arise. To achieve this a case study has been conducted on Örebro university. The study is based on qualitative data, obtained through semi- structured interviews and visual card sorting methods. Data was obtained from 14 respondents. These respondents represent different stakeholders of the university. The different stakeholders studied are students, faculty, management, co-operating organisations and municipality/province. These are the stakeholders considered the most important for a university. This paper concludes that university's brands are complex. There are several factors affecting the brand but the quality of education can be regarded as the single most important. A university is a service brand which means that also smaller details becomes important. If a university has a strong brand this can mean many advantages for both the university and its stakeholders, including higher quality and a better economy. However there are also risks and problems that may arise when a university is working with brand building. University's brand-building is thus a balancing act in which the benefits of a strong brand must outweigh the costs and risks.

I denna slutreflektion beskriver jag vad det var som fick mig att börja med applikationsutveckling till mobila enheter. Vilka mina tankar och planer var i början respektive slutet av projektet. Även hur jag gått tillväga för att skapa en mobilapplikation till Sveriges ledande annonssajt Blocket.se. Jag beskriver också hur jag gjorde min research i början av projektet och även vilken sorts mjukvara jag valde att arbeta med. Hur jag tog mina idéer och tankar från bilder i huvudet till skisser på ett papper, för att sedan förbättra det digitalt på datorn. Jag går även igenom mina arbetsmetoder och vilka delar som hjälpt mig till framgång., In this final reflection, I describe what it was that got me to start with application development for mobile devices. What my thoughts was and plans were in the beginning and end of the project. Also how procedures used to create a mobile application for the Swedish leading ad site Blocket.se. I also describe how I did my research in the beginning of the project and also what kind of software I chose to work with. How I took my ideas and thoughts from the images in my head to the sketches on paper, and then enhance it digitally on my computer. I also go through my working methods and what parts helped me to success., Detta är en reflektionsdel till en digital medieproduktion.

SOMAS är ett tillverkningsföretag i ventilbranschen som tillverkar olika sorters ventiler och ställdon. SOMAS vill konstruera en kulventil med en genomloppsdiameter i den standardiserade dimensionen DN500 för att kunna möta kundernas önskemål. Som konstruktionen ser ut idag kommer den bli för stora moment för ställdonen att manövrera kulan om man skalar upp en DN400 kulventil till DN500, varför ny konstruktion behövs. Syftet med projektet är att komma med idéer till konstruktionslösningar samt att utreda vilken av dessa som i slutänden är den mest lämpliga. Målet är sedan att ta fram ett konstruktionsförslag på det mest lämpliga förslaget. 3D CAD-modeller gjordes av SOMAS befintliga DN400 kulventil, i Pro/engineer var det sedan lätt att se vilka skillnader på kulans massa de olika modifieringarna gjorde. Vi modellerade den befintliga DN400 kulan, kula med kapad botten och tärningsform. När massan på de olika alternativen och gjutgodsets kilopris var känd kunde vi sedan räkna fram prisskillnader i procent mellan de olika alternativen. Vi tittade på olika typer av lagringar och delningar av ventilhusen, både med lösa och fasta spindlar. Tittade på alternativa tillverkningsmetoder och alternativa material för kulan. Priset på de alternativa materialen jämfördes med standard gjutgods (SS 2343). För att få fram storleken på ett säte till en DN500 kulventil gjordes beräkningar på sätestrycket. Ett diagram skapades i Excel över alla SOMAS kulventiler för att få fram ett erforderligt stängningsmoment för en flytande DN500 kula (flytande innebär att kulan inte har någon lagring i botten, se figur 2 sid. 15). Kom fram till att vi var tvungna att lagra kulan för att minska stängningsmomentet, beräknade då lagringstryck samt skjuvspänning i axeltapparna för att få fram erforderlig längd samt diameter på dessa. Räknade på hur stor momentminskningen blev om man lagrade kulan istället för att ha den flytande. Den mest lämpliga konstruktionen visade sig vara en tärningsformad kula, SOMAS are a producing company within the valve area and are producing different kinds of valves and actuators. SOMAS wants to design a ball valve with the standardized flow diameter DN500 to meet the market demands. Today’s construction if it's up scaled from a DN400 ball valve to DN500 gives to much torque for the actuator to handle the turning of the ball, therefore a new design is needed. Our task is to come up with new design ideas. In addition, find out which one of those are the most suitable. The goal is to come up with at construction suggestion of the most suitable construction. 3D CAD-models of SOMAS DN400 ball valve were made at which some modifications were made. It was easy to see the variation in the ball mass when a modification was made in Pro/engineer. We made models of the existing DN400 ball, ball with the bottom cut of and dice shaped ball. When we knew the mass of the alternative shapes and the price of the castings, we calculated the price differences in percent between the different alternatives. We looked at different types of bearings and separations of the valve house, both with loose and fastened axels. Looked at alternative manufacturing methods and alternative materials for the ball. The price on the alternative materials where compared with standard castings (SS 2343). To come up with a size for the seat to a DN500 ball valve, calculations of the seat pressure was made. A diagram over all SOMAS ball valves was made in Excel to calculate necessary closing torque for a floating DN500 ball (floating means that the ball does not have a bearing in the bottom look, at figur 2 page 15). We conclude that we had to mount the ball in bearings to minimize the torque. Calculated bearing pressure and shear in the shafts to come up with required length and diameter of those. Computed on how much the torque reduction was if the ball was mounted in bearings versus floating. We found that a dice shaped ball with bearings, cast axels, milled bearing hous

The Swedish working-class author Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990) wrote a collection of one hundred short stories between the years 1968-1972. His other productions, generally speaking, have partially different social reform purposes, but, according to himself, these short stories were written with the intention to be totally free of tendencies (even though he himself doubted that he succeeded with this). During the same period that these short stories were published, the Swedish social democrats were under the challenge of radical movements that, mainly on the radical left’s ideological foundation, had a relatively strong influence in Sweden, among other countries, from the mid 1960’s to the late 1970’s. Since Lo-Johansson mainly seemed to have supported the politics of the social democrats, the purpose of the investigation in this thesis has been to see if he – in the three short stories: Vikingakärlek (1970), Rikslögnaren (1971) and Ansgars resa till Sverige (1972) – is conveying an ideological use of history and basic political values that were used by the social democratic party during this time period. I have also tried to conclude if he is refuting ideas that two of the radical movements, in different ways, were using to challenge the social democracy of that time. These two movements are 1) the new left and 2) radical feminism. The new left opposed, among other things, parliamentary democracy and promoted a revolution. Radical feminism instead challenged social democracy by emphasizing the private sphere as a central cause for the continuing submission of women in society, something that previous to this movement had been neglected. More specifically I have tried to map out if the new left’s ideological use of history and some of its foundational political values are refuted, and if radical feminism’s explanation for the cause of female submission is confuted. My conclusions are that Lo-Johansson, in the three short stories, verified the l

Sheet metal forming of tribologically difficult materials such as stainless steel, Al-alloys and Ti-alloys or forming in tribologically difficult operations like ironing, punching or deep drawing of thick plate requires often use of environmentally hazardous lubricants such as chlorinated paraffin oils in order to avoid galling. The present paper describes a systematic research in the development of new, environmentally harmless lubricants focusing on the lubricant testing aspects. A system of laboratory tests has been developed to study the lubricant performance under the very varied conditions appearing in different sheet forming operations such as stamping, deep drawing, ironing and punching. The laboratory tests have been especially designed to model the conditions in industrial production.

Strategic stainless steel surfaces have been developed by which the tribological properties are significantly improved for sheet metal forming compared to as received surfaces. The improvements have been achieved by modification of the surface in order to promote micro-plasto hydrodynamic lubrication by increasing the ratio of closed lubricant pockets and modifying the pocket geometry. These factors influence the retention and subsequently escape of lubricant during forming thus enhancing lubricant permeability to the contact between flattened work piece asperities and contacting tool. The technique, which has been developed, is based on an electrochemical treatment changing the topography of the stainless steel surface. Comparative testing of the new surface topographies in ironing and deep drawing of stainless steel sheet shows significant improvements and possibilities of replacing chlorinated paraffin oils with environmentally friendly, plain mineral oil.

A tribological test for deep drawing has been developed by which the performance of lubricants may be evaluated quantitatively measuring the maximum backstroke force on the punch due to sliding friction between tool and work piece surface. The forming force is found not to give useful information regarding the lubricant performance, since it is not sensitive enough to reveal changes in the frictional contact, whereas the backstroke force is very sensitive to pick-up and galling even on micro-scale. Results from testing different lubricants with different performance are found to be consistent with qualitative evaluations by visual judgment of the resulting surface of the drawn cups. Hence, the quantitative method is found to enable a detailed ranking of lubricants performance.

A special BUT-transducer has been developed in which friction around the tool radius can be directly measured when drawing a plane sheet strip around a cylindrical tool-pin under constant back tension. The front tension, back tension and torque on the tool-pin are all measured directly, thus enabling accurate measurement of friction and direct determination of lubricant film breakdown for varying normal pressure, sliding speed, tool radius and tool preheat temperature. The transducer is applied in an experimental investigation focusing on limits of lubrication in drawing of stainless steel showing the influence of varying process conditions and the performance of different lubricants.

The trapping behavior of liquid lubricant and contact behavior of asperities at the workpiece-tool interface during upsetting and indentation are observed directly using a compression subpress which consists of a transparent die made of sapphire, a microscope with a CCD camera and a video system. The experiments are carried out without lubricant and with lubricant. Specimens used are commercially pure A1100 Aluminum with a random rough surface. From this observation, the change in the fraction of real contact area is measured by an image processor. The real contact area ratios in upsetting experiment without lubricant are in good agreement with numerical ones obtained by Wanheim and Bay and Makinouchi et al. The real contact area ratios in indentation experiments without lubricant increase linearly with increasing normal stress up to 350MPa. The real contact area ratios after upsetting and indentation experiments remain a contact of about 60%.

Environmentally hazardous lubricants such as chlorinated paraffin oils are often applied in punching and blanking operations especially involving stainless steel workpiece materials. This is due to the fact that punching and blanking are among the tribologically most difficult forming operations caused by creation of virgin workpiece surfaces in contact with the tool surface and the difficult access of lubricant to the tool/workpiece interface. In order to develop alternative lubricants that may substitute the existing hazardous lubricants often used in industry, appropriate tests are greatly needed. In this paper such a lubricant test for punching and blanking is proposed and results from applying the test for evaluating different lubricants for punching are presented. Studies of lubrication mechanisms in punching and blanking are furthermore presented showing the influence of the punch stem topography.

Pick-up and galling due to lubricant film breakdown is a severe limitation in cold forming of tribologically difficult metals like stainless steel and aluminium. The present paper describes a method of combined experimental and numerical analysis to quantify the limits of lubrication in a dedicated simulative strip reduction test. The limit of lubrication is quantified as the threshold drawing length before galling occurs. A numerical model of the test is established calculating tool/work piece interface temperatures and normal pressures. Identifying a critical maximum value of the interface temperature the results show good agreement between numerically predicted and experimentally observed threshold drawing lengths at different test conditions.

Strategic stainless steel surfaces have been developed and investigated during the project in close cooperation with the Department of Chemistry, DTU with the purpose of enhancing the tribological properties. This has been achieved successfully by applying electrochemical treatments of normal as delivered stainless steel surfaces implying microstructure changes in terms of larger ratio of closed lubricant pockets due to selective grain boundary etching. Strategic surfaces have also been created by macroscopic texturing using spherical indentations having a very small edge slope in order to promote micro-plasto lubrication mechanisms. Tribological testing by the simulative strip reduction test, deep drawing and stretch forming clearly show that the developed strategic surfaces perform superior to normal surfaces tribological-wise. In case of strip reduction, 40% reduction by a strategic surface using plain mineral oil is possible without any lubricant breakdown. In deep drawing, 2mm stainless steel blanks can be drawn to drawing ratio of DR=2.0 over a die entry radius of rd=3mm again using a plain mineral oil containing no additives. In stretch forming, friction is reduced considerably by strategic surfaces in comparison to normal stainless steel surfaces implying a larger extent of bi-axial stretching. Numerical simulations have been applied in order to evaluate limits of lubrication in the simulative strip reduction based on predictions of critical parameters appearing in terms of temperature and contact pressure. The numerical models have been calibrated regarding friction and thermal contact resistance based on experimental results from actual testing conditions. It has been found that predictions of limits of lubrication are possible by numerical means and that the FE-models corresponds well to experimental results in terms of lubricant film breakdown and subsequently pick-up development. Punching and blanking have been investigated regarding tribological condit

Punching/blanking is one of the tribologically wise most severe metal forming processes.Insu $cient lubrication leads to heavy pick-up of work piece material on the punch stem,bad tolerances and eventual breakdown of the punch due to excessive backstroke force,especially in case of tribologically di $cult work piece materials like stainless steels.For this group of materials few alternatives exist as regards appropriate lubricants and many companies apply the environmentally hazardous chlorinated para $n oils in order to insure a uccessful production.In connection with development of alternative lubricants the present paper describes a new lubricant test for punching.