Measuring the Deformation of a Flat Die by Applying a Laser Beam on a Reflecting Surface

The design of extrusion dies depends on the experience of the designer. After the die has been manufactured, it is tested during an extrusion process and machined several times until it works properly. The die is designed by a trial and error method which is expensive interms of time consumption and the amount of scrap. Research is going on to replace the trial pressing with finite element simulations that concentrate on material and tool analysis. In order to validate the tool simulations, an experiment is required for measuring the deformation of the die. Measuring the deformation of the die is faced with two main obstacles: high temperature and little free space. To overcome these obstacles a method is tried, which works by applying a laser beam on a reflecting surface. This cheap method is simple, robust and gives good results. This paper describes measuring the deformation of a flat die used to extrude a single U shape profile. In addition, finite element calculation of the die is performed. Finally, a comparison is performed between experimental and numerical results. Introduction In a direct aluminum extrusion process the die is subjected to two types of loads: mechanical and thermal loads. These loads cause the die face to deform in a concave shape. Consequently, the section is extruded non uniformly through the deformed die where it is thinner at the middle and thicker at the edges. Therefore, the dimensions of the extruded section may not be as specified. The die must be corrected in order to extrude a profile with the specified dimensions. Prediction of how the die deforms helps in decreasing the number of trial pressings and die corrections. In fact finite element simulations are used in predicting the deformation of the die. Moreover, these simulations require experiments in order to be validated. Therefore, an experiment is conducted for measuring the deformation of a flat die used in the extrusion of a U shape profile. Measuring the die deformation or the pressure on the die face is a challenging task especially in an industrial extrusion environment. In literature different approaches were applied for measuring the pressure on the die face and deformation of the die. In [1] the pressure distribution on the die face and deformation of the die in the extrusion of 1050 aluminum rod were measured by the use of a semi conductor strain gauge pressure sensor and a laser displacement meter respectively. The measurements were performed on a 400 tons vertical laboratory press. The pressure sensor was inserted in a hole drilled through the die and its holder such that the contact between the sensor and the metal would take place. The measurement of the die deformation was performed by measuring the deflection of the bar attached to the die at a specified position. In [2] cylindrical flat steel capsule which deforms linearly was inserted in the die face. The capsule was connected to a deformation measurement system with a bar inserted in a hole drilled through the tool stack. In [3] a technique was designed for measuring the pressure on the die face with the application of Capacitec capacitive probes. This type of sensors was chosen due to their small size and functionality at temperatures above 400 C. In [3] and [4] the technique was applied successfully in measuring the pressure on the die face during the extrusion of a rod and thin strip with an experimental vertical extrusion press. But it was not a complete success in [5] in measuring the pressure on the die face in an industrial U shape profile extrusion due to failure of the sensors. Two different ideas were utilized in the above mentioned experiments. First, the deflection of the die is measured by measuring the deflection of a bar connected to the die face. Second, the deformation of the die is measured by sensors integrated in the die. Moreover, a special die is required to be designed and manufactured for mounting the sensors and their connectors to the measurement system. In addition calibration is a demand before measurement. Since the experiment is carried out on a press owned by an extrusion company, modification to the tool stack is limited. Therefore, the application of the second idea is difficult in this case. Finally, a new approach is deduced from the first idea and followed by applying a laser beam on a reflecting surface. A reflecting surface is mounted on the die face. The experiment is carried out successfully in two rounds which guarantee its repeatability. The experimental results of the first round are compared with finite element simulations where a decoupled analysis is applied. The finite element simulations are performed by the in-house implicit FE-program DiekA. Experiment setup The measurement is done on the deformation of a flat die used in producing a single U shape profile shown in Fig. 1. To avoid interrupting the beam during the experiment, the saw and the stretcher are switched off. The die, backer and ring are mounted together as shown in Fig. 2. Fig.3 illustrates the experiment setup, where a laser beam is emitted from a laser source towards a reflecting surface which reflects the beam on a white screen. The laser source is placed out side the run-out table and far from the press because it works at room temperature. Fig.1: profile (Dimensions in mm) Fig.2: tool (Dimensions in mm) Fig.3: experiment setup Fig.4: production of the stainless steel flat mirror Reflecting surface. A stainless steel flat mirror is attached to the tongue of the die as shown in Fig. 6. Stainless steel is chosen as a reflecting material, because it withstands high temperature and preserves its reflectivity during the experiment. An inclined reflecting surface is designed because the laser source must be placed outside the run-out table. Its angle is determined from the position of the laser source, position of the screen and opening in the pressure ring. The small size and the angle of the reflecting surface are the main obstacles in the polishing stage during its production. Finally, after several trials it was produced in the following manner as shown in Fig. 4: (1) embedding a stainless steel piece in "Bakelite", (2) polishing, (3) cutting the mirror from the middle of the piece by eroding in order to get the best flatness. Laser source. The laser source is chosen such that the diameter of the spot is less than the length of the side of the reflecting surface. Therefore, a laser source is selected with the following specifications: 1. Green dot laser with 532nm wavelength 2. Output power: 20mW. 3. Divergence: 0.1mrad. 4. Dot diameter varies between 0.4mm and 3mm. Backer. A new backer displayed in Fig. 5 is produced to accommodate the incident beam, reflected beam and the stainless steel mirror. Fig.5: front and section view of the backer [mm] Fig.6: fixation of the mirror Screen. The reflected beam is projected on a screen. The screen has a white background with four reference points. The reference points are used in calculating the movement of the reflected spot through a bilinear transformation. Billets. Billets with 92mm diameter and 360mm length are extruded. Their material is AA6060 with 0.40% Si and 0.45% Mg. Experiment procedure The following points summarize the procedure of the experiment: 1. Fix the mirror on the die with two M3 bolts as shown in Fig. 6. 2. Assemble the tool parts such as die, backer, and ring. 3. Put the tool in the oven and heat it up to 460C ̊. 4. Place the laser source and screen. 5. Two cameras are placed in two different positions. Camera “A” is positioned in front of the control panel, and camera “B” in front of the screen. 6. As soon as the temperature of the tool reaches the desired one, it is removed from the oven and placed in the press. 7. Turn on the laser source, aim it at the mirror and adjust the position of the screen until the reflected spot can be seen on it. 8. Turn on the two video cameras and start pressing 9. The locations of the laser source and screen are measured. Experimental results The two movies are analyzed and the data are extracted for the first four billets. The ram speed, seal pressure and main cylinder pressure are taken out from movie “A”. The seal pressure gives the information about locking up the container to the tool. The cylinder pressure is the pressure applied on the ram to extrude the billet. The cylinder pressure and the seal pressure are plotted in Fig.7. After loading the billet in the container, the seal pressure is increased to 210 bars in order to lock up the container to the tool, and then the cylinder pressure is increased to 50 bars in order to compress the billet until it fills the container which is 95mm diameter. Then the cylinder pressure is decreased to zero and the container is moved backward to allow the hot gas to escape from the container. This procedure is known as "Burp". Soon afterward the container is closed again and cylinder pressure is increased to 120 bars and extruding the current billet is started. During extrusion the cylinder pressure decreases slightly exponentially due to friction between the billet and the container as described in [6]. After extruding the current billet, the container is moved backward and part of the oil from the hydraulic circuit is passed to shear off the butt end. As shown in Fig 7, the profile of the cylinder pressure during the extrusion of the first billet is different from that of the successor billets because part of the first billet fills the die and the baffle. The extrusion force is calculated from the cylinder pressure and the diameter of the cylinder and displayed in Fig.8. The extrusion force profiles for the third and fourth billets are higher than that of the second billet because of cooling down. The ram speed with a nominal value of 5.3mm/sec is exhibited in Fig.9. The extruded billet length is calculated by integrating the ram speed in time. Table 1 shows that 20% of the first billet is lost in filling the die and the baffle. Billet 1 2 3 4 Extruded length [mm] 250 310 310 310 Table 1: Extruded billet length Fig.7: pressure versus time Fig.8: extrusion force versus time Fig.9: ram speed versus time 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 Delta t [sec] R am sp ee d [m m /se c] Ram speed 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 Delta t [sec] Pr es su re [b ar ] Cylinder pressure Seal pressure 0 50 100 150 200 250 300