Design and analysis of streamlined extrusion die for round to hexagon using area mapping technique, upper bound technique and finite element method

Abstract

Extrusion is one of the most important metal forming process commonly used for the manufacturing of the hexagonal rods. Extrusion of metal through a conventional shear faced die experiences few practical limitations such as dead metal zone, more redundant work etc. Most of the research works have proved that the streamlined die used for extrusion is more efficient than the conventional shear faced die. Design of streamlined die using arbitrarily shaped curves and conventional curves have been done by many researchers. In this study, a new approach of transforming the peripheral point on the surface of round to corresponding point on the extruded hexagon has been obtained by an analytical method. Further the prediction of force required to extrude, the development of stresses and strain have been solved with a combined approach of upper bound theorem and finite element technique by considering the profile as cosine curve. Later the experimental study has been conducted for validating these approaches to register the benefit of cosine profile.