Prediction of welding pressure in the non-steady state porthole die extrusion of Al7003 tubes

This paper describes a numerical analysis of non-steady state porthole die extrusion, which is useful for manufacturing long tubes with a hollow section. Materials divided through several portholes are gathered within a chamber and are then welded under high pressure. This weldability classifies the quality of tube products and is affected by process variables and die shapes. However, porthole die extrusion has been executed based on the experience of experts, due to the complicated die assembly and the complexity of metal flow. To better assist the design of die and to obtain improvement of productivity, non-steady 3D FE simulation for porthole die extrusion is required. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the behavior of metal flow and to determine the welding pressure of hot extrusion products according to various billet temperatures, bearing length, and tube thickness by FE analysis. The results of FE analysis are compared with those of experiments.