Analysis of Sheet Metal Extrusion Process Using Finite Element Method

Sheet bulk metal forming processes have been widely developed to the facilitate manufacture of complicated 3D parts. However, there is still not enough know-how available. In this paper, as one of the typical sheet bulk metal forming processes, the sheet metal extrusion process was studied. A reasonable finite element method (FEM) model of sheet metal extrusion process taking the influence of flow-stress curve with wide range of plastic strain and ductile damage into consideration was established and simulated by an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) FEM implemented in MSC.Marc. Validated by comparing the results with experiment, some phenomenological characteristics, such as metal flow behavior, shrinkage cavity, and the influence of different combinations of diameter of punch, diameter of extrusion outlet, and diameter of pre-punched hole were analyzed and concluded, which can be used as theoretical fundamental for the design of the sheet metal extrusion process.