Thermomechanical modelling of hot extrusion of Al-alloys, followed by cooling on the press

A numerical solution for simulating the complete process of extrusion of Al-alloys with final cooling on the press is proposed. The model applied consists of three parts: thermomechanical model of the material flow during no lubricated extrusion, model of the microstructure development during deformation and tempering, and model of the final mechanical properties. The finite element method (FEM) is used to couple the thermomechanical problem with microstructure evolution. Numerical solutions are used for preliminary adjusting of technological parameters and predicting mechanical properties of AlCu4Mg1-alloy. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.