Optimisation of flow balance and isothermal extrusion of aluminium using finite-element simulations

There is significant demand to reduce variations in the shape and mechanical properties of the aluminium extrusion process to meet tighter tolerance requirements. To reduce variations, the flow and temperature evolution in the container and die must be controlled. To study how the process parameters influence the temperature evolution and the material flow, the effects of ram speed, initial temperature distribution in the billet and container cooling rate have been studied. This work is divided into three parts which examine the different aspects of the extrusion process. (1) To minimize the radial variations of temperature and velocity fields over multiple press cycles. (2) To obtain isothermal extrusion of aluminium. (3) To understand and formulate the effect of an undesired lateral temperature gradient in the billet on the exit velocity of the aluminium sections. In each part, the effect of different process parameters on the flow balance and temperature evolution of the extruded sections is shown and discussed.     

Semi-solid extrusion of steel grade X210CrW12 under isothermal conditions using ceramic dies

A self-heating ceramic tool is presented allowing for the semi-solid extrusion of steel grade X210CrW12 (material number 1.2436; AISI D6) under near-isothermal conditions at 1250–1350 °C. High-purity alumina (Al₂O₃) is used as recipient and die material. Steel bars of axis-symmetric geometry were extruded at very low process forces, as targeted in thixoforming. Except for process-related imperfections, good formability and reproduction of die geometry were observed. Extruded bars show excellent microstructural homogeneity. Apart from work piece quality the high die temperatures and thus reduced thermal shock impacts during extrusion allow for the application of thermal shock-sensitive oxide ceramics, e.g. alumina, as die material.     

Plastic deformation mechanism of crystalline polymer materials in the equal channel angular extrusion process

The plastic deformation mechanism of polymer materials was observed during the equal channel angular extrusion process with polypropylene as crystal polymer. The variations of the crystalline morphology, microstructure, and microhardness were discussed during the process. The extent of plastic deformation increased from the top surface to the bottom surface, and the maximum molecular orientation increased from R = 1 near the top surface to R = 2.2 near the bottom surface. The plastic deformation at the surface was small, especially in the range of 400 μm distance from the top surface, without definite change of the crystalline structure. The plastic deformation was obvious when the sample was pressed into the outer corner of die. The spherulitic structure extended to the ellipsoidal shape along the 45° direction of the diagonal line because of the shear strain. The plastic deformation led to the destruction of spherulites near the bottom surface. However, the spherulites were not destroyed at center part, so their refinement as metallic material could not be expected. The variation of internal structure and material orientation increased along the direction of the maximum molecular orientation.     

Sodium hydroxide digestion of scheelite by reactive extrusion

According to the thermodynamic analysis, scheelite can be decomposed as long as the NaOH concentration is high enough, even at low temperatures. As for the approaches of increasing NaOH concentration, it is more economical to reduce the water dosage at fixed NaOH dosage than to increase the NaOH dosage at a fixed ratio of liquid to solid. But the viscosity of slurry will be increased with the increase of the solid to liquid ratios, which will make the mass transfer more difficult if the conventional stirring equipment is still employed. Twin screw extruder is a kind of equipment which is suitable to work with highly viscous macromolecular materials. Good mass transfer can be easily obtained in this process. Therefore, it is considerable to apply this equipment to treat the highly viscous scheelite slurry. Based on these, a novel technology is proposed to digest scheelite with sodium hydroxide. Under the conditions of temperature 120 °C, screw rotating speed 160 rpm, reactive time 3.5 h and the NaOH dosage 2.2 times to stoichiometry, the content of WO₃ in the residue and the WO₃ extraction are 1.54% and 99.18%, respectively. The results indicate that scheelite can be decomposed with sodium hydroxide by reactive extrusion at a lower temperature.     

Manufacturing of Al–Mg–Si alloy foam using calcium carbonate as foaming agent

Aluminium foams can be manufactured by two main methods: casting and powder metallurgy. When the latter route is used, a foaming agent (usually TiH₂) is mixed with the aluminium or aluminium alloy powders, followed by powder mixture consolidation (usually hot extrusion) into a precursor and finally its foaming treatment. In this research, two calcium carbonate powders were used as foaming agents on an Al–Mg–Si (AA6061) alloy. Their different characteristics (particle size and chemical composition) modified the manufacturing process to achieve the final foam. AA6061 powders were then mixed with 10% calcium carbonate and, after cold isostatic pressing into green cylinders, hot extruded at different temperatures (475–545 °C). The foaming treatment was carried out in a furnace preheated to 750 °C using several heating times. The density changed from 2.03 to 2.10 g/cm³ after cold isostatic pressing to 2.64–2.69 g/cm³ in precursor materials obtained by hot extrusion. Foaming behaviour depends on the carbonate powder as well as the extrusion temperature. Thus, natural carbonate powder (white marble) produces a foam density close to 0.65 g/cm³ after a shorter time than when chemical carbonate is used. The foam structure showed a low degree of aluminium draining, no wall cell cracks and a good fine cell size distribution. Compressive strength of 6.11 MPa and 1.8 kJ/m³ of energy absorption were obtained on AA6061 foams with a density between 0.53 and 0.56 g/cm³.     

Fabrication of 93W–Ni–Fe alloy large-diameter rods by powder extrusion molding

A powder extrusion molding (PEM) process has been used for the manufacturing of tungsten heavy alloy rods with large length to diameter ratio. An improved wax-based multi-component binder was developed for PEM of 93W–Ni–Fe alloy. The miscibility of its components and the characteristics of the binder were evaluated and good thermal–physical properties were obtained. Also, the feedstock rheological properties, extrusion molding and debinding process were studied. The feedstock exhibited a pseudo-plastic flow behavior. The large length to diameter ratio rods, with diameters up to 36 mm were extruded at 65 °C by optimizing the extrusion process. A two-step debinding process was employed to remove the binder in the extruded rods. Solvent debinding was carried out in n-heptane at 45 °C to extract the soluble components. A process of repeated short time immersion and drying of the extruded rods (called short-period solvent debinding) was developed and using this novel technique the binder removed was raised from 45% to 60%. SEM analyses indicated that a large volume of pores was formed in debound rods, but had not created interpenetrating pore channels yet. The rest of the binder could be thermally extracted at a high heating rate without defects.     

Press for hydrostatic extrusion with back-pressure and the properties of thus extruded materials

A press for hydrostatic extrusion within the extrusion pressure range up to 2 GPa with back-pressure up to 0.7 GPa was designed and constructed. The press is equipped with an integrated pressure intensifier, and a control and recording system which permits recording the process parameters, such as extrusion pressure, back-pressure and its stability, time and speed of the extrusion, and enables monitoring the process on-line. The double-layer high-pressure chamber and the monobloc back-pressure chamber were analyzed using the finite element method with allowance made for the self-strain-hardening effect known as autofrettage. The maximum permissible load imposed on chambers and the resulting balance pressure established in the case of the two chambers being accidentally connected were also evaluated. Several cold extrusion processes assisted with back-pressure from 400 MPa to 700 MPa were conducted, experimenting with low or non-ductile materials, such as the ZW3 magnesium alloy, GJL250 grey cast iron, GJS500 nodular cast iron, bismuth of 99.999% purity, and molybdenum of 99.9% purity. The bulk, non-defected products with diameters ranging from 4 to 7 mm were obtained. The use of back-pressure permitted the materials to be plastically deformed during a single cold operation with the percent deformation from 36% in grey cast iron to more than 80% in Bi. Thanks to the strain-hardening due to the severe plastic deformation, the materials acquired excellent properties (YS = 392 MPa in the magnesium alloy, σ_d0.2 = 709 MPa in molybdenum, σ_dM = 1140 MPa in grey cast iron, and σ_d0.2 = 643 MPa in nodular cast iron) impossible to achieve by classical plastic deformation processes. The hardness of the materials was also increased adequately, and the refinement of their microstructure resulted in an increase of ductility. These advantageous results obtained by using the press indicate that hydrostatic extrusion with back-pressure has a great applicative potential.     

Numerical modelling of the material flow during extrusion of aluminium alloys and transverse weld formation

A comprehensive numerical model of the hot extrusion process for aluminium alloys has been developed and validated. Reflecting the complex thermomechanical changes effected in the alloys during extrusion, the model incorporated heat flow and plastic deformation during extrusion. This paper presents the overall numerical development of a hot extrusion process for AA3003 and validation of the numerical model, by comparison to industrial data. The plasticity module was developed using a commercial finite element package, DEFORM^®, a 2-D transient Lagrangian model which couples the thermal and deformation phenomena and is able to predict the temperature, strain rate and strain distribution in the billet/extrudate at any position in the container and die. A new algorithm using MATLAB was also developed so that details of the material flow and formation of the transverse weld and how it is affected by the feeder geometry could be quantified. Validation of the DEFORM model and the MATLAB algorithm of the material flow against industrial data indicated that it gave excellent predictions of the pressure and temperature history during extrusion as well as material flow effects such as surface cladding as one billet is fed in after another through the die. The results indicated that the die feeder design has a significant effect on the transverse weld formation with tapered dies showing lower transverse weld lengths compared to regular feeder plates.     

发射药螺杆挤压机叶片强度分析及结构参数优化

对于发射药挤出成型用的螺杆挤压机的双锥度螺杆,在采用某种工艺的时候,药料的相互剪切和挤压作用大大提高。利用ANSYS有限元分析软件,通过模拟药料在挤压过程中的流动和应力分布情况以及流固耦合,对现有的螺杆进行强度分析,校核其是否适应新的工艺。以降低流道内最大压力差为优化目标,螺杆强度为约束条件,通过改变螺杆的结构参数,提高螺杆挤压机的挤出效率。结果表明：楔形角对流道最大压力差影响显著大于螺棱宽度;通过正交试验得到最佳参数组合为楔形角均为24°,螺棱宽度为1.5 mm,此挤出流道内压力差达到最小。     

FE analysis of extrusion defect and optimization of metal flow in porthole die for complex hollow aluminium profile

To solve the defects of bottom concave appearing in the extrusion experiments of complex hollow aluminium profiles, a 3D finite element model for simulating steady-state porthole die extrusion process was established based on HyperXtrude software using Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) algorithm. The velocity distribution on the cross-section of the extrudate at the die exit and pressure distribution at different heights in the welding chamber were quantitatively analyzed. To obtain an uniformity of metal flow velocity at the die exit, the porthole die structure was optimized by adding baffle plates. After optimization, maximum displacement in the Y direction at the bottom of profile decreases from 1.1 to 0.15 mm, and the concave defects are remarkably improved. The research method provides an effective guidance for improving extrusion defects and optimizing the metal flow of complex hollow aluminium profiles during porthole die extrusion.     

The influence of refill FSSW parameters on the microstructure and shear strength of 5042 aluminium welds

Refill friction stir spot welding (FSSW-Refill) was used to produce solid-state joints in an automotive 5042 aluminium alloy. The influence of plunge depth, rotational speed, plunge rate and time on the microstructure and shear strength was investigated. The Statistica software package was used to correlate process parameters with the mechanical properties of the joints. The most significant variables are plunge depth and tool rotational speed, while volumetric defects have a small influence on the mechanical performance of the welds. Reducing the rotational speed from 1900 rpm to 900 rpm increased the bonding ligament length. For joints produced at a higher tool rotational speed (1900 rpm) the material flow was more vertical, i.e., towards the surface of the joint, the bonding ligament length was reduced and the shear strength was impaired.     

Structure and properties of 6061 + 26 mass% Si aluminum alloy produced via coupled rapid solidification and KOBO-extrusion of powder

Experiments on mechanical consolidation of rapidly solidified (RS) powder of 6061 + 26 mass% Si alloy were performed using the oscillating-die extrusion method. The RS powder was wrapped in thin-wall 6061-alloy cup 35 mm in diameter and vacuum-compressed by means of 100 ton press. Bars 8 mm in diameter were extruded with cross-section reduction of λ = 19 without any preheating of the charge. Tubes with a diameter/wall thickness of 14 mm/1 mm and cross-section reduction of λ = 33 were also manufactured with success. TEM/STEM observations revealed a very fine structure of as-extruded material and bimodal distribution of quasi-spherical silicon particles. Statistical analysis revealed a silicon fine fraction of 0.1–0.7 μm and a coarse fraction 2.1–2.5 μm in diameter. Examination by means of TEM did not reveal any significant changes in the morphology of the silicon particles, even when a high extrusion ratio and the material annealing after deformation were used. Hot compression tests on as-extruded rods (λ = 19) and preliminary annealed samples were performed at a constant true strain rate of 5 × 10^?3 s^?1 within the temperature range of 293–823 K. High strength of the material and relatively high ductility of samples deformed by compression up to ?_t ? 0.4 were observed. The maximum flow stress value for as-extruded material was reduced with deformation temperature from ～390 to ～3.5 MPa for 293 and 823 K, respectively. Annealing of the samples at 773 K/30 min was found to reduce the maximum flow stress by 30–40%. Tensile strengths of similar as-cast alloys and materials manufactured by means of other powder metallurgy methods were shown for the purpose of comparison.     

Surface oxide in replicated microcellular aluminium and its influence on the plasticity size effect

The oxide film present along the interface between metal and pores in microcellular aluminium produced by replication depends on the leaching medium that is used to dissolve the NaCl preform: leaching in water produces a thick and irregular multilayered hydroxide layer, whereas leaching in a chromate conversion solution produces a smooth layer of oxide, ≈10 nm thick. The pore-size-dependent flow stress of replicated microcellular aluminium exhibits a marked dependence on the leaching process used to produce the foam when the pore size is below roughly 100 μm. This dependence on the leaching medium is a result of the influence exerted by the outer surface oxide layer on dislocational glide in micron-sized metal struts making the foam.     

Microstructure and texture evolution during equal channel angular extrusion of interstitial-free steel: Effects of die angle and processing route

Die angle (Φ) and processing route are two important factors that greatly impact microstructure and texture developments during equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). In this study, the microstructure and texture evolution in interstitial-free steel during ECAE using a Φ = 120° die are investigated for up to four passes via three routes (A, B_C and C). Finite element simulations and polycrystal modeling using the Taylor and viscoplastic self-consistent models are conducted to help understand deformation behavior and texture formation. Transmission electron microscopy results reveal remarkable microstructural differences between various observation planes for each billet. The effects of Φ and processing route are discussed by comparing the current results with those for the same material processed via the same routes but using a Φ = 90° die. The efficiency of grain refinement is found to be only mildly dependent on Φ and processing route. The textures can be completely characterized by predefined ideal fibers, regardless of processing route and pass number. With the exception of even-numbered passes in route C, textures developed after the same route and pass number, but different Φ can be approximately related by a rotation about the axis normal to the flow plane and the rotation angle is half of the Φ difference.     

Isothermal extrusion speed curve design for porthole die of hollow aluminium profile based on PID algorithm and finite element simulations

The isothermal extrusion process of hollow aluminium profile was investigated using incremental proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control algorithm and finite element simulations. The range of extrusion speed was determined by considering the maximum extrusion load and production efficiency. By taking the optimal solution temperature of the secondary phase as the target temperature, the extrusion speed–stroke curve for realizing the isothermal extrusion of the aluminium profile was obtained. Results show that in the traditional constant extrusion speed process, the average temperature of the cross-section of the aluminium profile at the die exit rapidly increases and then slowly rises with the increase in ram displacement. As the extrusion speed increases, the temperature difference at the die exit of the profile along the extrusion direction increases. The exit temperature difference between the front and back ends of the extrudate along the extrusion direction obtained by adopting isothermal extrusion is about 6.9 °C. Furthermore, the heat generated by plastic deformation and friction during extrusion is balanced with the heat transfer from the workpiece to the container, porthole die and external environment.     

UBET analysis of process of extruding aluminum alloy ribbed thin-wall pipes through a porthole die

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Cathodic pulse breakdown of anodic films on aluminium in alkaline silicate electrolyte – Understanding the role of cathodic half-cycle in AC plasma electrolytic oxidation

Sequential anodic and cathodic pulse voltages were applied on anodised Al micro-electrodes in alkaline silicate electrolyte to explore the role of cathodic pulse in AC or bipolar plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process. SEM observation was carried out to observe the sites of anodic and cathodic breakdown and their morphologies. The prior anodic breakdown accelerated the cathodic breakdown at ?50 V, and the acceleration was associated with the preferential cathodic breakdown at the anodic breakdown sites. However, the succeeding anodic breakdown during applying anodic pulse of 420 V for 2 ms was highly suppressed at the cathodic breakdown sites. This would randomise the anodic breakdown sites. Such role may contribute to the formation of rather uniform coatings on aluminium in this electrolyte without large discharge channels when larger cathodic current is applied with respect to the anodic current in AC PEO.     

Investigation of the age hardening behaviour of 6063 aluminium alloys refined with Ti,RE and B

The purpose of this study is to obtain a better understanding on the effect of ageing on the hardness of 6063 aluminium alloys refined with Ti, cerium-rich mixtures of rare earth (RE) and B with the aids of SEM, EDS, TEM, DSC, etc. The following conclusions have been obtained: the 6063 alloy with the joint additions of Ti, B and RE (10 w(Ti)/w(B) mass ratio) has the finest grain, compared to alloys with Ti or Ti and RE additions. Artificial ageing must be performed more than 7 d after extrusion. The 6063 alloys refined with Ti, Ti + RE or Ti + RE + B all have better ageing behaviour. It takes shorter ageing time to obtain a hardness near peak ageing hardness and there is no obvious decrease of ageing hardness of the alloys until ageing for 6 h at 200 °C. The addition of RE forms Al–Si–Mg–RE intermetallic constituents, resulting in lower strength of alloys than that with Ti addition.     

Solid-state diffusion bonding of gamma-TiAl alloys using Ti/Al thin films as interlayers

Alternating nanometric layers of titanium and aluminium were used as filler material to promote joining between titanium aluminide samples. The improved diffusivity of these nanometric layers is thought to overcome the difficulties in solid-state joining of titanium aluminides without producing chemical discontinuities at the interface. In this study, a thin multilayer (alternating titanium and aluminium layers), 2 μm thick, was deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering onto the two surfaces to be joined. The effects of processing conditions and the thickness of nanometric layers on microstructure and chemical composition variation across the interface have been analyzed. Sound regions can be obtained at temperatures as low as 600 °C but higher temperatures (800–1000 °C) are needed to obtain completely sound joints. During processing, the as-deposited film evolves to a nanocrystalline TiAl layer which may explain why the bond region is slightly harder than the base material.     

Contribution of non-octahedral slip to texture evolution of fcc polycrystals in simple shear

The contribution of non-octahedral {1 0 0}〈1 1 0〉 slip to texture evolution under simple shear in face-centred cubic (fcc) polycrystals was studied. It was found that, by adding the {1 0 0}〈1 1 0〉 slip system family to the usual {1 1 1}〈1 1 0〉, the ideal orientations remain the same. However, the stability of the ideal orientations, the rotation field and the rate of change of the orientation density function were affected by the non-octahedral slip activity. The stress state, the slip distribution and the form of the equipotential functions were also examined along the ideal fibres. Finally, the texture evolution in pure aluminium during equal channel angular extrusion was simulated and analysed.