Numerical Studies of Some Important Design Factors in Radial-Forward Extrusion Process

Abstract

In this study, the forming characteristics of radial-forward extrusion are investigated by the effect of some important die design geometry parameters such as gap height, annular gap width, mandrel corner radius, and die corner radius on forming load variations. The workpiece material was AA6063 aluminum and the simulation work was performed by the rigid-plastic finite element method. The validity of the simulation results obtained in this study was verified by using the experimental data reported in the literature. There is reasonably good agreement between the simulation and the experiment. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the above-mentioned parameters on forming load. Based on the simulation results, the annular gap width has the greatest effect on the forming load in the forward extrusion stage. Furthermore, the forming load and maximum load decrease as the gap height increases. However, the mandrel radius and the deflection radius have a slight influence on the forming load in the punch and mandrel. The work presented in this article might be used for basic data in the design of the radial-forward extrusion process. In this article the DEFORM-2D software (Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation, Columbus, OH) was used for numerical study.