Numerical Simulation And Parameter Optimization Of Porthole Die For Aluiminum Profile Extrusion

For the present, the use of aluminum alloy profile becomes more and more popular. Extruding method is commonly used in the production, because it can not only economize raw material, but also has high productivity. So it is taken into account increasingly. However, die design often depends on the experience and trial-and-error over and over in production. With the development of CAD/CAE in production, AL6063 alloy Lacunaris panel profile is analyzed. The porthole die are designed by using CAD software Pro/Engineer and the process of extrusion are simulated by Rigid-Plastic FEM software Deform-3D.Firstly, design principle of the porthole die is produced, it introduces the theory of rigid-plastic FEM simply and the material flow velocity criterion. From technology and geometry aspect, the influence factor of material flow is introduced. Secondly, utilizing the method of numerical simulation to get the concrete influence of geometry factor in profile extrusion, it obtains the relationship between the bearing length and exit velocity, also it obtains the relationship between the bearing length and local extrusion ratio, the effect of major parameters of die structure on material flow velocity has been integrated and the general formula of bearing length design and calculation of Al profile extrusion have been derived. The correct controlling data are insta11ed and the simu1ation strategy are applied,for instance,to select the rational time-step,mesh fine,adjust the aberrance element,set right boundary conditions and so on,so the simulation process is carried out successfully.It gives some innovation of the porthole die structure creatively, and put forward the idea of the porthole-expanding die and the streamline die. By analyzing the simulation results, the porthole-expanding die not only reduce the load of extrusion but also produce the alloy profile more wider than round extrusion chamber, and the streamline die can reduce the load of extrusion effectively. The data are obtained from the Post-Processor of DEFORM-3D as the graph of Load-Stroke,the effective strain and stress distribution of the work piece and the exit velocity of material flow. It must be improve the quality and efficiency of mold design and carry out the high quality, low cost and short period of mold development.