Thermomechanical modeling and simulation of aluminum alloy behavior during extrusion and cooling

The purpose of this work is the modeling and simulation of aluminum alloys during extrusion processes. In particular, attention is focused here on aluminum alloys of the 6000 series (Al-Mg-Si) and 7000 series (Al-Zn-Mg). In the current paper, a number of aspects of the structural simulation as well as that of extrusion as a thermomechanical process are considered. These aspects include contact and adaptive mesh refinement, heat transfer inside the billet, heat transfer between the workpiece and the container, frictional dissipation, mechanical energy and surface radiation. The friction is considered to model the so called dead material zone. The radiation constant has been estimated so that the results are close to the experimental results. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.