A Laboratory Scale Equipment to Relieve Force and Pressure in Cold Extrusion of Lead Hollow Components

Abstract

Nowadays, many researchers are involved in studies aimed to the explanation of some peculiar aspects regarding manufacturing processes. In this paper, an experimental campaign was carried out in order to reproduce tube extrusion starting from a cylindrical billet. In particular, the development of a proper equipment is presented: the aim was to measure both the total load, by using the testing machine load cell, and the local pressure value on the porthole. The latter task was carried out performing a proper system based on the use of a small load-cell. The tube was extruded with a good surface quality and the external area does not show any welding line evidence. Pure Lead was used for the experimental analysis; this material was chosen due to its high ductility which allows to carry out the process at room temperature. The material was characterized by compression tests at different strain rates and the obtained material law was used to perform a numerical analysis using SFTC Deform 3D numerical code. The Numerical analysis was carried out to show both the advantages and drawbacks of the modern FE codes when extrusion processes are investigated.