Research On CAD/CAE System For Porthole Extrusion Moulds Of Hollow Aluminum Profiles

Hollow aluminum profiles are widely used in aviation, aerospace, vehicle, civil construction, decoration and electrical industries. The porthole extrusion moulds which are used to produce hollow aluminum profiles are also developed rapidly with newer types, higher precision and longer service life. In traditional pattern, the design and manufacture of porthole extrusion moulds needs to be tested and adjusted many times before it can be used into real production, much time and money are wasted inefficiently. It is quite important and necessary to develop an effective and practical CAD/CAE system for hollow aluminum profiles porthole extrusion moulds. The research in this thesis is a part of Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Fund "Web based CAD/CAE/CAO research on hollow aluminum profiles porthole extrusion (No.: 2007gzc177)".Based on grasping and analyzing the design principles and structure characters of the porthole extrusion moulds, the general structure, objects models, objects class models and its operational characteristics of the CAD system for porthole extrusion moulds of hollow aluminum profiles is designed, by adopting the object oriented technology and OMT (Object Modeling Technology) methods. With the help of UG/ OPEN API and UG/OPEN GRIP re-developing interfaces, object classes operational characteristics of the CAD system are developed by using C programming language, and the CAD system for porthole extrusion moulds of hollow aluminum profiles is eventually realized. The sample design proved that it is quite convenient to design parametric porthole extrusion moulds using the CAD system.The extrusion forming process of a typical hollow aluminum profile, rectangular tube, is numerically simulated on the SuperForge software based on FVM (Finite Volume Method), with correctly designing extrusion parameters and re-developing materials library. Exact simulation results, such as metal flow, effective stress, effective plastic strain and temperature are obtained. The distribution of them and effect to the extrusion mould are also analyzed, which could be a good support and reference to the optimization of mould parameters, diminishing of "try and error" and improvement of production efficiency.