Objective
Task A1: Analysis of die material properties requirements:
- An investigation of the current die materials and previously unsuccessful new die materials;
- An analysis of the failure modes of the current dies and the major causes for the failure;
- A benchmark of the performance and service life of the current dies based on a statistical analysis;
- A list of property requirements for improved performance and prolonged service life.
Task A2: Extrusion modelling with multimaterial dies:
- Added database of novel materials for multimaterial dies;
- Techniques and procedures for the simulation of extrusion with multimaterial dies;
- Distributions of the stresses built-up in a multimaterial die across interfaces;
- Predictions of vulnerable regions in the die as the origins of die failure;
- Guidelines in die design and correction to control the flow in homogeneity during extrusion.
Task 3: Selection of suitable materials for die construction:
- A list of advanced die materials for aluminium extrusion;
- A list of new die materials for copper and brass extrusion;
Task A4.1: Bonding, HIP and sintering Trials:
- Fundamental understanding of Ni3Al and tool steel based composites during liquid-phase sintering;
- Optimised conditions recommended for hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to achieve consolidation and microstructural modifications simultaneously;
- Techniques and optimised conditions to produce metallographically sound bonds between different materials with and without interlayer through HIP.
Task A4.2> Optimisation of heat treatment:
- Optimised conditions of heat treatment for modified H13 tool steel and its composites to obtain balanced mechanical properties;
- Potential to use the modified tool steel based composites both for aluminium extrusion and for brass extrusion;
Task A5: Machining trials:
- Optimised conditions of high-speed spindle machining (milling) of hardened materials with regard to mill lifetime, milling speed, surface quality and accuracy;
- Optimised conditions of wire electro discharge machining of composite materials for extrusion dies with respect to surface roughness, metal removal rate, white layer thickness and electrode service life;
Task B1: Die design;
- Designs of multimaterial extrusion dies for diffusion bonding and shrink-fitting and finally for lab-scale and industrial-scale testing (aluminium extrusion);
- New designs of a set of die inserts for industrial testing (copper/brass extrusion).
Task B2: Manufacturing of multimaterial die blanks:
- 36 blanks made of 9 selected materials for lab-scale testing (aluminium extrusion);
- 36 die blanks made of 4 selected materials for industrial-scale testing (aluminium extrusion);
- 18 die blanks for copper/brass extrusion tests on the lab and industrial scales.
Task B3: Machining of dies:
- Five sets of dies (30 dies) with different numbers of cavities for aluminium extrusion;
- 30 dies with an omega opening for semi-industrial testing (aluminium extrusion);
- 18 dies for copper/brass extrusion experiments.
Task C1-C2: Short-term and long-term industrial extrusion trials:
- Enlarged extrusion window for the extrusion of hard aluminium alloys with respect of permissible temperature and speed due to reduced adhesion between aluminium and Ni(3)Al based die materials;
- Demonstrated and well-proven improvements of die performance in aluminium extrusion with respect to die wear/stiffness/fracture toughness;
- Finding of the best material configuration for copper/brass extrusion dies in terms of wear, deformation and creep resistance.
Task C3: Cost benefit analysis:
- Increase of extrusion speed by 150-200% and decrease of scrap rate by 3.5-7% due to increased die life by 1-2 times (aluminium extrusion) plus no nitriding, reduced die resurfacing and easier die cleaning;
- Increased range of extrudable profiles both for aluminium and copper/brass extrusion;
- Reduction of die cost by 11%, increase of die life span by 250% and reduction of die cost in operating costs from 0.0688 to 0.0024 /kg (copper/brass extrusion).
Task D1: Set-up guidelines:
- Recommendations of most appropriate die alloys for aluminium and copper/brass extrusion;
- Disposition and assembly of multimaterial blanks
- Machining and heat treatment of steel based composites;
- Performance indicators for extrusion.
Objectives and content
Tooling is a major factor limiting competitiveness across the metal extrusion industries. Improving the performance of tooling is critical in increasing the cost-efficiency of the extrusion process, and in expanding markets by allowing extruders to manufacture profiles of higher surface quality, better dimensional tolerances, and thinner and more complex sections. The primary objective of the project is to assess the potential and develop the process route which, if successful, will facilitate a new generation of tooling capable of overcoming current limitations experienced in the extrusion of aluminium and copper based alloys. This will be achieved by applying the concept of Multimaterial Tooling. This concept enables the utilisation of more than one material within the same tool. Each material is specifically selected and suitably deployed to meet the particular property requirements in the different parts of the tool.
Based on the experience of extruders and assisted by suitable software models, incorporating the thermal and mechanical behaviour of tooling and die - extrudate interactions, suitable alloys will be selected to overcome the current limitations of conventional tooling materials. Processing techniques for the fabrication of multimaterial blanks will be developed and the conditions necessary to machine dies, using conventional techniques will be established. Dies produced using the new processing methodology will be tested and their performance assessed against established industry criteria. Finally guidelines covering the supply of die feedstock, machining requirements and die performance under different extrusion conditions will be collated. This will improve competitiveness and stimulate increased business across the supply chain.
It is anticipated that through the development of Multimaterial Tooling, reductions in extrusion production costs of 25% will be achieved in the short term and 36% in the long term. The partnership of six, from five different European States provides experts from across the supply chain covering feedstock providers, a major tooling manufacturer, and aluminium and copper extruders. Their efforts will be underpinned by a research organisation with specialist expertise in multimaterial construction and a university actively involved in extrusion and tooling. Furthermore the partners are actively engaged in discussions with a number of manufacturers who will be in a position to exploit the technology in other metal fabrication industries following the successful completion of this project BE97-4729.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
- engineering and technology materials engineering composites
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering manufacturing engineering subtractive manufacturing
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry post-transition metals
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Coordinator
5928 PZ Venlo
Netherlands
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