On The Balance of The Metal Flow In Porthole Dies With Differently Sized Porthole Channels

The relative balance between the metal flow in two portholes in extrusion has been investigated by experiments and FE-analysis. The investigation deals with asymmetric extrusion, i.e., the billet is extruded through a die with portholes of unequal size. Metal flow has been characterized by an experimental grid pattern technique. An optimized FEM-model of the experiment has been built and the experimental metal flow is found to be mimicked accurately by this model. The velocity conditions in the two differently sized ports feeding material into the weld chamber, and further from here into the extrudate, have been investigated to see if the balance between the flow through the two channels changes as extrusion proceeds. Increasing asymmetri between the two portholes has been realized in the analysis by displacement of the die bridge laterally in relation to the direction of extrusion.