EVALUATION OF ELASTICITY AND TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON THE DIMENSIONAL ACCURACY OF BACK-EXTRUDED COMPONENTS USING FINITE-ELEMENT SIMULATION

The elastic characteristics and the thermal changes of both the formin g tools and the work material influence the dimensional accuracy of fo rmed engineering components. Using finite element (FE) simulation, the influence of each was evaluated for the cold back-extrusion of low-ca rbon steel and pure aluminium. The results indicate that the elastic b ehaviour of the tools and the work material has a greater influence on the dimensional accuracy than the temperature changes for the forming of low-carbon steels. However, temperature has a greater influence th an does the elasticity of the tools and the work material when pure al uminium was extruded. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserv ed.