MULTIPLE PROCESS PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION OF FORWARD EXTRUSION PROCESS ON AA 2024

Extrusion is a simple metal forming process in which a block of metal is forced through a die orifice with a certain shape under high pressure. This extrusion process is influenced by many process parameters such as die angle (DA), ram speed (RS), coefficient of friction (COF), Extrusion ratio, Die land height, work piece diameter and length, material properties etc. In extrusion process, extrusion force is crucial parameter, the flow of metal and hence the extrusion force is significantly influenced by the above parameters which results in quality of the product. The present study numerically investigates the influence of major process parameters such as die angle, ram speed, coefficient of friction on the extrusion process. The AA2024 material is chosen as work piece material and the extrusion force and damage is considered as the output responses. The input process parameters are varied in three levels (Level - 1: 10° DA, 1.6mm/min RS, 0.06 COF; Level - 2: 20° DA, 3.2mm/min RS, 0.08 COF; Level - 3: 30° DA, 4.8mm/min RS, 0.01 COF). Numerical simulations are performed by using DEFORM 3D software. The simulations are conducted as per L27 orthogonal array. From the results it is observed that Increase of die angle, ram speed and coefficient of friction increases the extrusion force. The die angle has highest (86.45%) influence on the extrusion force, then after ram speed (6.60%). The coefficient of friction has insignificant influence (0.55%). It is also noticed that the damage is considerable after the 20° die angle. A multi parameter optimization is also done by using the Grey relation analysis by considering the equal weightage of extrusion force and damage. The optimum levels of input process parameters for the minimum extrusion force and damage is DA level 1, RS level 1, and COF level 3.

Microstructure and Its Influence on the Welding Quality of 6063 Aluminum Alloy Porthole Die Extrusion

Extrusion experiments and 3D numerical modeling were conducted to investigate the dynamic recrystallization and welding quality of a 6063 aluminum alloy hollow square tube extruded by a porthole die at the ram speeds of 3 mm/s, 7 mm/s, 9 mm/s and 11 mm/s. The results showed that average grain size of hollow square tube extruded at the ram speed of 7 mm/s was the smallest. The profile extruded at the ram speed of 3 mm/s exhibited the highest expansion ratio. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) fractions were highly variable at different ram speeds. DRX fractions in the matrix zones were higher than those in the welding zones, resulting in smaller grain sizes in the matrix zones. Mechanical properties in the welding zones and matrix zones was different. A local strain concentration would occurred during expansion, which would affect the welding quality. Finally, it was found that the uniform microstructure near the welding line would also affect the welding quality.

Micro-Extrusion Process And Microstructure Evolution of Miniature Heat Pipe In 6063 Aluminum Alloy

Micro-extrusion process of miniature heat pipe with axial micro grooves is particularly difficult due to ultra-large extrusion ratio and complex cross-sectional shape. In this study, the shape control of a miniature heat pipe in 6063 aluminum alloy with boundary dimension of 5×4 mm has been successfully realized during micro-extrusion. Micro-extrusion process and microstructure evolution of the miniature heat pipe were investigated by the combination of finite element (FE) analysis with experiments. The results show that material flow deformation behavior during micro-extrusion is highly affected by size effect, and lower ram speed is conductive to forming integrity, dimension accuracy and surface quality of the heat pipe profile. The primary mechanism for micro-extrusion failure of micro-grooves is severely more uneven material flow between the micro rib and base region at higher ram speed, which is caused by size effect and results in shear deformation and even fractures of micro rib. Further research shows that, compared to the extrusion using as-cast billets, much coarser grains were obtained after micro-extrusion using as-extruded billets at an ultra-large extrusion ratio of 205. Besides that, the entirely different texture components after extrusion were obtained instead of the typical < 100 > //ED or < 111 > //ED fiber texture components. These atypical texture components can be regarded as texture deviating from ideal texture by a certain angle (15° or 20°) along φ axis or φ1 axis.

Liquid Nitrogen in The Industrial Practice of Hot Aluminum Extrusion: Experimental and Numerical Investigation

Nowadays, the liquid nitrogen cooling in aluminium extrusion is a widely adopted industrial practice to increase the process productivity as well as to improve the extruded profile surface quality by reducing the profile exit temperatures. The cooling channels are commonly designed on the basis of die maker experience only, usually obtaining modest performances in terms of cooling efficiency. Trial-and-error approach is time and cost consuming, thus providing a relevant industrial interest in the development of reliable numerical simulations able to foresee and optimize the nitrogen cooling effect during the die design stage. In this work, an extensive experimental campaign was performed during the extrusion process of an AA6060 industrial hollow profile, in different conditions of nitrogen flow rate and ram speed. The monitored data (die and profile temperatures and extrusion load) were compared with the outputs of a fast and efficient numerical model proposed by the authors, and developed in the COMSOL Multiphysics code, able to compute not only the effect of nitrogen liquid flow but also the gaseous condition. The results of the simulations showed a good agreement with experimental data and evidenced how far was the experimental cooling channel design from an optimized condition.

Effect of Various Forms of Aluminum 6082 on the Mechanical Properties, Microstructure and Surface Modification of the Profile after Extrusion Process

This article presents a method of reusing aluminum scrap from alloy 6082 using the hot extrusion process. Aluminum chips from milling and turning processes, having different sizes and morphologies, were cold pressed into briquettes prior to hot pressing at 400 °C at a ram speed of 2 mm/s. The study of mechanical properties combined with observations of the microstructures, as well as tests of density, hardness and electrical conductivity were carried out. On the basis of the results, the possibility of using the plastic consolidation method and obtaining materials with similar to a solid ingot mechanical properties, density and electrical conductivity was proven. The possibility of modifying the surface of consolidated aluminum scrap was tested in processes examples: polishing, anodizing and coloring. For this purpose, a number of analyses and tests were carried out: comparison of colors on color histograms, roughness determination, SEM and chemical composition analysis. It has been proven there are differences in the surface treatment of the solid material and that of scrap consolidation, and as such, these differences may significantly affect the final quality.

Forging of Mg-Al-Zn Magnesium Alloys on Screw Press and Forging Hammer

Magnesium alloys are highly strain rate sensitive and exhibit good workability in a narrow forging temperature range. Consequently, parts made of these materials are usually forged with low-speed hydraulic presses, using specially designed tool heating systems in order to ensure near-isothermal conditions. This study investigates whether popular magnesium alloys such as Mg-Al-Zn can be forged in forging machines equipped with high-speed forming tools. Experimental upset forging tests on AZ31B, AZ61A and AZ80A specimens were conducted, using a screw press with a ram speed of 0.5 m/s and a die forging hammer with a ram speed at stroke of about 5 m/s. Test specimens were preheated to 350 °C, 410 °C and 450 °C. After the upset forging process, they were air- or water-cooled and then examined for their workability, hardness and grain size. To validate the results, a forging process for a producing handle was designed and modelled by the finite element method. Distributions of strain, temperature and fracture criterion were analysed, and energy and force parameters of the forging process were calculated. After that, experimental tests were performed on AZ31B and AZ61A specimens in order to determine mechanical properties of forged parts and examine their micro- and macrostructure. Results have demonstrated that AZ80A is not suitable for forging with either the screw press or the die forging hammer, that AZ61A can be press- and hammer-forged but to a limited extent, and that AZ31B can be subjected to forging in both forging machines analysed in the study.

Effect of Process Parameters and Definition of Favorable Conditions in Multi-Material Extrusion of Bimetallic AZ31B–Ti6Al4V Billets

This paper investigates the extrusion process to manufacture bimetallic cylinders combining a magnesium alloy core (AZ31B) and a titanium alloy sleeve (Ti6Al4V) of interest in aeronautical applications. A robust finite element model has been developed to determine the most influential parameters and to study the effect of them on the extrusion force and damage induced by means of Design of Experiments (DOE) and Taguchi method. The results show that the most influential parameters in the extrusion forces are the friction between sleeve and container/die and the height of the cylinder; and the less influential ones are the process temperature and ram speed. Moreover, minimum values of forces along with low damage can be reached by favorable interface contact conditions, minimizing the friction at the core-container/die interface, as the main influencing factor; followed by the geometrical dimensions of the billet, being the billet height more important when paying attention to the minimum forces, and being the core diameter when considering the minimum damage as the most important criterion. The results can potentially be used to improve the efficiency of this kind of extrusion process and the quality of the extruded part that, along with the use of lightweight materials, can contribute to sustainable production approaches.

Processing of High Purity Titanium by Equal Channel Angular Pressing at Cryogenic Temperature

Experiments show that high purity titanium (HP-Ti) samples have been successfully processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) using a 120 degree die and a relatively slow ram speed at cryogenic temperature when the HP-Ti rods were trapped with 6061 Al alloy tubes. Optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to investigate the deformed microstructure of the material. Typical microstructures of shear bands and deformation twinning were found in the deformed microstructure of ECAPed HP-Ti. Furthermore, the SAED pattern analysis of the twinning structures revealed that the deformation twinning occurred on {112} planes. Keywords: High purity titanium; ECAP; TEM; Deformation twinning; Cryogenic temperature.