TY - JOUR
T1 - Physical simulation method for the investigation of weld seam formation during the extrusion of aluminum alloys
AU - Fang, G
AU - Nguyen, Duc Thien
AU - Zhou, Jie
N1 - Accepted Author Manuscript
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Extrusion through the porthole die is a predominant forming process used in the production of hollow aluminum alloy profiles across the aluminum extrusion industry. Longitudinal weld seams formed during the process may negatively influence the quality of extruded profiles. It is therefore of great importance to understand the formation of weld seams inside the welding chamber during extrusion, as affected by extrusion process variables and die design. Previously developed physical simulation methods could not fully reproduce the thermomechanical conditions inside the welding chamber of porthole die. In this research, a novel physical simulation method for the investigation of weld seam formation during extrusion was developed. With a tailor-designed tooling set mounted on a universal testing machine, the effects of temperature, speed, and strain on the weld seam quality of the 6063 alloy were investigated. The strains inside the welding chamber were found to be of paramount importance for the bonding of metal streams, accompanied by microstructural changes, i.e., recovery or recrystallization, depending on the local deformation condition. The method was shown to be able to provide guidelines for the design of porthole dies and choice of extrusion process variables, thereby reducing the scrap rate of aluminum extrusion operation.
AB - Extrusion through the porthole die is a predominant forming process used in the production of hollow aluminum alloy profiles across the aluminum extrusion industry. Longitudinal weld seams formed during the process may negatively influence the quality of extruded profiles. It is therefore of great importance to understand the formation of weld seams inside the welding chamber during extrusion, as affected by extrusion process variables and die design. Previously developed physical simulation methods could not fully reproduce the thermomechanical conditions inside the welding chamber of porthole die. In this research, a novel physical simulation method for the investigation of weld seam formation during extrusion was developed. With a tailor-designed tooling set mounted on a universal testing machine, the effects of temperature, speed, and strain on the weld seam quality of the 6063 alloy were investigated. The strains inside the welding chamber were found to be of paramount importance for the bonding of metal streams, accompanied by microstructural changes, i.e., recovery or recrystallization, depending on the local deformation condition. The method was shown to be able to provide guidelines for the design of porthole dies and choice of extrusion process variables, thereby reducing the scrap rate of aluminum extrusion operation.
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2eb508c7-0cdb-44e9-b317-7040187744a9
U2 - 10.1007/s11837-016-2235-0
DO - 10.1007/s11837-016-2235-0
M3 - Article
SN - 1047-4838
VL - 69
SP - 734
EP - 741
JO - JOM
JF - JOM
IS - 4
ER -