Measuring the Deformation of a Flat Die by Applying a Laser Beam on a Reflecting Surface

Abstract

The design of extrusion dies depends on the experience of the designer. After the die has been manufactured, it is tested during an extrusion process and machined several times until it works properly. The die is designed by a trial and error method which is expensive interms of time consumption and the amount of scrap. Research is going on to replace the trial pressing with finite element simulations that concentrate on material and tool analysis. In order to validate the tool simulations, an experiment is required for measuring the deformation of the die. Measuring the deformation of the die is faced with two main obstacles: high temperature and little free space. To overcome these obstacles a method is tried, which works by applying a laser beam on a reflecting surface. This cheap method is simple, robust and gives good results. This paper describes measuring the deformation of a flat die used to extrude a single U shape profile. In addition, finite element calculation of the die is performed. Finally, a comparison is performed between experimental and numerical results.