Investigation of Cold Extrusion Process Using Coupled Thermo-Mechanical FEM Analysis and Adaptive Friction Modeling

Cold extrusion processes are known for their excellent material usage as well as high efficiency in the production of large batches. Although the process starts at room temperature, workpiece temperatures may rise above 200 degrees C. Moreover, contact normal stresses can exceed 2500 MPa, whereas surface enlargement values can reach up to 30. These changes affects friction coefficients in cold extrusion processes. In the current study, friction coefficients between a plain carbon steel C4C (1.0303) and a tool steel (1.2379) are determined dependent on temperature and contact pressure using the sliding compression test (SCT). In order to represent contact normal stress and temperature effects on friction coefficients, an empirical adaptive friction model has been proposed. The validity of the model has been tested with experiments and finite element simulations for a cold forward extrusion process. By using the proposed adaptive friction model together with thermo-mechanical analysis, the deviation in the process loads between numerical simulations and model experiments could be reduced from 18.6% to 3.3%.