Forming Load Characteristics of Forward and Backward Tube Extrusion Process in Combined Operation

Abstract

Combined extrusion processes generally have advantages of forming in terms of the minimum deformation power since the material is pressed through two or more orifices simultaneously. This paper is concerned with the analysis of forming load characteristics of a forward-backward can extrusion process using thick-walled pipe as an initial billet. The combined tube extrusion process was analyzed by using a commercial finite element code. A thick-walled pipe was selected as an initial billet and the punch geometry has been chosen on the basis of ICFG recommendation. Several tool and process parameters were employed in this analysis and they are punch nose radius, backward tube thickness, punch face angle, and frictional conditions, respectively. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of process parameters on the force requirements in combined extrusion process. The possible extrusion process to form a forward-backward tube parts in different process sequences were also simulated to investigate the force requirements in sequential operations, i.e. separate operations. It was easily concluded from the simulation results that lower forming load was predicted for the combined extrusion, compared to those for separate sequential operations. It was also revealed that the punch nose radius and the punch face angle have little effect on the force requirements and the forming load increases significantly as the frictional condition along tool-workpiece interface becomes severe. The simulation results in this study suggest that the combined extrusion process has strong advantage in terms of force requirements as long as the simultaneous material flow into multiple orifices could be closely controlled.