COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT FEM CODE APPROACHES IN THE SIMULATION OF THE DIE DEFLECTION DURING ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION

In this paper a multihole die producing two overlapped U-shape profiles was used in order to analyze the die deflection during the extrusion process thus allowing the benchmarking of different FEM codes. The two die openings were differently designed in order to realize different die deflection (fully supported and partially supported). Profile lengths, die and profile temperatures, process load and die deflections were used as benchmarking parameters for FEM comparison. A summary of the different FEM codes approaches, of the computational times of the main outputs and their comparison with experimental results are presented. A detailed discussion for all output parameters is realized in order to understand the potentials and limits of each code. Finally a discussion on future perspective for FE code application and designing guides is reported.