AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan.

2006)

Design, Construction and Performance Evaluation of A Laboratory Extrusion Rig

Abstract
A manually operated 25 tons vertical extrusion rig was designed and constructed for laboratory use. During the test of the constructed rig, solid extrusion product of lead with diameter 11 mm, wholesome length 97 mm, and 13 mm unwholesome length was made from a billet diameter of 16.5 mm and 50 mm in length. The effects of extrusion ratio (R=A0/Af) on the extrusion pressure ratio (P/f ) were studied. It was observed that the extrusion pressure ratio increased from 0.95 for extrusion ratio of 1.28 to 1.73 for extrusion ratio of 2.39. Also, in order to establish the reliability of results obtained by use of the rig in performing experiments, the plane-strain equation: P = a + b ln(R ) was used to evaluate the rigs performance. The results (a=0.73

and b=1.35) were satisfactory, as they were in agreement with those available in published literature. The equipment proved adequate for most laboratory investigations of extrusion parameters except for those considering the effects of ram speed on extrusion pressure ratio. Keywords: Extrusion Rig, Design, Construction, Testing, Performance Evaluation

1. Introduction
Extrusion is one of the bulk deformation processes used in manufacturing of various products. The extrusion process of manufacture is deceptively simple and consists of forcing a billet of metal through a die to produce a continuous length of constant cross-section corresponding to the shape of the die orifice (Radford, 1974). As simple as this may seem, the design of equipment for the process has not been highly engineered or completely scientific in nature due, partly, to the fact that the process is regarded as both an art and a science (Mielnik 1991). It is regarded as an art because the sciences that govern the process are not fully understood. However, due to the importance of extrusion to manufacturing engineering, it is expedient to carry out research that could help to fully understand the underlying science and engineering of the process.

Furthermore, propositions regarding regards factors that affect the extrusion process (Avitzur 1968) and extrusion products quality (Smith and Swindells 1954) have been made. Ulysee and Johnson (1999) have recently proposed a die design model for thin extrusions to ensure they attain high quality. Some of these propositions are theoretical and have yet to be verified practically in the laboratory. To initiate these investigations, laboratory equipment capable of yielding results that are applicable to full scale manufacturing are required. Such equipment, however, is not available in most universities and research centers across the country, and this has impacted negatively on the development of the extrusion process engineering. It is in view of the foregoing that this work was carried out. The work had as its objective the design and construction of a laboratory extrusion rig, as well as the evaluation its performance. Such performance evaluation helped to establish the level of reliability expected of results obtained by its use.
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AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan. 2006)

Definition of Symbols Aa = Area of Actuator and Area of Bolt A0 =Area of Billet Af = Area of Extruded Product Ah = Area of throat Ap = Area of Piston b = Length of Beam D0 = Diameter of Billet DD = Diameter of Die Df = Diameter of extruded product E = Elastic Modulus I = Moment inertia k = Loading type constant l = length of column Lc, LD = Perimeter and Land of Die n = number of item Po = Extrusion force, design load r1, r2 = internal and external diameters respectively R = Extrusion ratio = half die angle f() = Strength factor f = Flow stress (), [all] = working stress of material 1 = Operating pressure y = Yield Strength [all] = working shear stress

advantages of hydraulic presses over mechanical and screw presses to include quiet operation, low effort needed to operate the system, and easy reading of press pressures from appropriately attached gauges. The designed members of the system therefore are as listed below. Hydraulic system Container Die Beams Frames Pins Gauge Ram

2.2 Design Analysis And Calculations Crucial to the determination of the rigs components listed above was the extrusion force, which the rig was required to overcome. For this reason, the constituents of the extrusion force were completely analyzed and all its contributory factors exhaustively accounted for. Included in it were: - Force, Pc expended to overcome friction at the container wall. - Force, Pp needed to initiate and maintain plastic deformation of the extrusion - Force, Ps required to shear the billet at the dead metal zone up to the die-container boundary - Force, Pf used to overcome friction at the die surface - Force, PR used to overcome friction at the ram or follower surface - Force, PD dispensed on die land to overcome friction Using integral calculus, and considering the observations of Mielnik (1991) that both forces Pf and PR are negligible, especially when the initial billet diameter almost equals the container diameter (in which case, there will be negligible upsetting at both the follower and die faces) as well as adopting the work of Avitzur (1963), an equation for calculating the extrusion force used to design this rig (when a flat-faced die is used) was derived as shown in equation 2.0.
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2. Design Approach
2.1 Design Synthesis The direct extrusion process was considered since it requires a higher extrusion force than the reverse extrusion process (Dieter 1986). The equipment designed was such that it could replicate actual extrusion manufacturing process. In its synthesis, it was decided that there should be a member that would hold the billet in place as it extruded through the die. An avenue to read off extrusion pressure was necessary and this informed the choice of a hydraulic system which could easily make for the tapping of the working fluid for the systems operating pressure to be read off from an attached gauge. Apart from ease of pressure reading, extrusion forces are high and therefore require systems that can effectively and efficiently produce such high forces. Dergamo

AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan. 2006)

P0

LL 2 + A0 2 cot + A0 c D _____( .0) 2 A 3 3 sin f

2.2.1 Hydraulic System Capacity: The equation (2.0) above when evaluated for lead with y=10 MPa and f=y/3 =5.773 MPa (Lange, 1975) with a billet diameter of 16.5mm and product diameter of 11mm as well as strength factor, f() of 1.006, an extrusion force of P=243,420N was obtained. This yielded a press capacity of 24.5 tons. This tonnage was used to select a hydraulic jack for the rig. 2.2.2 Container: This was treated as thick cylinder and Lame equation was used for its design. The Lame equation (Eugene and Theodore 1996) is: ( ) = 1

A standard channel that has moment of inertia, I=690900mm4 was chosen for this design since the moment of inertia obtained by evaluating the above formula was 4 I=669152mm , for a beam length of 360mm and ymax of 0.0381mm/25.4mm (Mott, 1985) of beam length. 2.2.5 Frames: Flat bars, one on each side of and linking the two beams at both ends were used. There were two anticipated failure mode: (i) susceptibility of frame deforming if its yield strength is exceeded and (ii) shear along weakest parts of the frame, especially at the joint. For the first case, the equation used was P0 [ all ]_____ (2.4) 2 Aa While for the second case, the equation that sufficed was [ all ] P0 _____ (2.5) 2nAh With a material of AISI 1030 (Q&T) evaluation of both equations yielded a frame configuration of 75mm breadth and thickness of 6mm. 2.2.6 Pins: These members fastened the frames to the beams. They were subjected to shearing stress created as a result of the extrusion load, P0. The design equation applicable in this case was [ all ] P0 ____ (2.6) 2nA p When this equation was evaluated for 2 pins per joint, a pin diameter of 12mm was adopted for use, and uniformity in design, it was also used to fasten frame-beam diecontainer assemblies. 2.2.7 Ram Diameter: This was considered as a compression block since the member was chosen such that it possessed l/r<30 and for compression blocks, mode of failure was strength failure and the design criterion used was: P0 [ all ] _____ (2.7) Aa
177

(r (r

2 2 2 2

+ r12 r12

) )

_________ (2.1)

When this equation was evaluated using steel, AISI 1030, it yielded a container thickness of 4mm for an internal diameter of 17mm and a maximum billet length of 75mm. 2.2.3 Die: This was considered as a plate hinged at both ends with the extrusion pressure evenly distributed over it. The thickness of the die was obtained from the plate formula (Eugene and Theodore 1996):
2 k e D D ______ (2.2) 4[ all ] Using a material of AISI 1030 (Q&T) and k=0.75 (Eugene and Theodore 1996), die thickness, LD was obtained as 15mm.

LD =

2.2.4 Beams: The design criterion used for these members was the ability of the chosen section to be able to resist deflection. The two beams of the rig were considered as indeterminate since they are pinned at both ends. The governing equation used was: y max = P0 b 3 ______ (2.3) 192 EI

AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan. 2006)

With a material of AISI 1140 diameter of ram was calculated to be 16mm and 16.5mm diameter was adopted for the design.

3.3 Experimental Results Validation Model The model chosen for validation of the experimental results obtained from the rig was the equation of plane-strain deformation without considering friction in the container. According to Dieter (1987), this equation is: p = a + b ln(R ) ________ (3.4)

3. Performance Evaluation
This is presented in three parts: the test procedure, the experimental procedure, and the experimental results validation model. 3.1 The Test Procedure The billet of 16.5 mm was cut into a 50 mm length. The die with circular aperture of 11 mm was placed between the upper frame and container flange and fastened firmly by tightening in turn the two bolt fasteners provided. The ram was placed on the hydraulic jack, which already had its actuation valve closed. The hydraulic jack was pumped through its lever, and this pumping action continued until extrusion started and throughout the course of extrusion. As expected of the design, the constructed rig performed the extrusion. 3.2 Experimental Procedure This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of extrusion ratio on extrusion pressure and the procedure was as follows: The billet of 16.5 mm was cut into four pieces each of 50 mm length. The die with circular aperture of 15 mm was placed between the upper frame and container flange and fastened firmly by tightening in turn the two bolt fasteners provided. The ram was placed on the hydraulic jack, which already had its actuation valve closed. The hydraulic jack was pumped through its lever, and this pumping action continued until extrusion started. The pressure reading on the gauge was read at the onset of extrusion. Mid way into the extrusion process, the pressure was also read and recorded. This procedure was repeated in turn for dies with openings of 14 mm, 13 mm, and 11 mm. The pressure values obtained were recorded and tabulated, as shown in Table 1.
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a and b are constants which are dependent on such factors as the die friction and redundant work. Knowledge of these constants were useful for determining extrusion force, in the process of designing extrusion press. The values of a and b have been calculated and are available in literatures (Melnik 1991; Dieter 1987). The values of a and b determined from the results of the above experiment compared with the ones available in literature helped to validate and establish the reliability of the rig usage. For a quick understanding of Tables 3.0 and 3.1, it is worthy to note that f = flow stress of the material which, according to Mielnik (1991), is taken as the value obtained from the yield criterion proposed by von Mises. Thus,

3 where y is the yield strength of the material being extruded, which in this case is lead. In order to determine the values of a and b in equation (3.4) above, the graph of p/f on the ordinate and ln R on the abscissa was plotted, as shown in Fig. 1, where p is the extrusion pressure as read from the pressure gauge and R = extrusion ratio, Ao/Af..
3.4 Validation of Results The calculation of the extrusion ratio, R, p pressure ratio , and ln (R) were made and

f =

tabulated as shown in Table 1, to enable the determination of the constants a and b. A plot p of on the ordinate and ln (R) on the

abscissa was made to graphically depict the relationship between the two parameters as shown in the Fig. 1.

AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan. 2006)

(Note: for lead y =10 MPa, therefore f = 5.77 MPa. p is the extrusion pressure values obtained for the steady state extrusion (middle values) as shown on Table 2). From Fig 1, the values of a and b were respectively 0.73 and 1.35. Mielnik (1991) in quoting these values after using the plane-strain equation referred to in section 3.3 of this work made a caveat: These values were approximations and were acceptable with a variation of 15%. To buttress this fact, Dieter (1986) cited and made use of the work of Kudo that evaluated these parameters as: a = 1.06; and b = 1.55. Since the values of a and b obtained by the use of the rig designed here fell within 15% of 0.8 and 1.5 in turn, the machines performance was satisfactory, and its ability to replicate available and acceptable values was put at about 90%.

those that bother on the effects of ram speed on extrusion.

References
Avitzur, B. 1968. Metal forming: Processes and Analysis. McGraw Hill, New York, NY, USA. Dieter, G.E. 1987. Mechanical Metallurgy. McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Dergamo, E.R.; Black, J.T.; and Ronald, A.R. 1996.. Material Processing in Manufacturing, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, India. Eugene, A.A.; and Theodore, B. (III). 1996. Marks Standard Handbook of Mechanical Engineers. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA. Lange, K. 1975. Handbook of Metal Forming, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA. Mielnik, E.M. 1991. Metal Working Science and Engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA. Mott, R.L. 1985. Machine Elements in Mechanical Design. Bell and Howell, London, England. Radford, J.D.; and Richardson, D.B. 1974. Production Engineering Technology. Macmillan Press, London, England. Smith, C.; and Swindells, J. 1954. Some factors affecting the quality of extrusions, J. Inst. Metals 16: 25-33. Sullivan, J.A. 1975. Fluid Power: Theory and Application. Reston Publ., Virginia, USA.

4. Conclusion
The stated objectives of this work to design and construct a laboratory extrusion rig and to evaluate the rigs performance were satisfactorily achieved. The alidation process revealed a high reliability of results obtainable from the use of this rig in conducting experiments. The rig is fit for use in laboratories for metallic extrusion experimentations, except

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AU J.T. 9(3): 175-180 (Jan. 2006)

Table 1. Effect of extrusion diameter on extrusion pressure Experiment Billet number diameter (mm) 1 16.5 2 16.5 3 16.5 4 16.5 Extrusion diameter (mm) 15 14 13 11 Pressure Reading (MPa) Onset of extrusion Middle of extrusion 12 10 8 6 10 8.5 6.5 5.5

Table 2. Relationship between extrusion ratio and extrusion pressure r ratio Billet diameter (mm) 16.5 16.5 16.5 16.5 Extrusion Diameter (mm) 11 13 14 15 Extrusion ratio R=Ao/Af 2.389 1.71 1.48 1.28 ln R 0.87 0.54 0.39 0.25
p

/f

1.73 1.47 1.12 0.95

2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 Series1 Linear (Series1)

0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Fig. 1. Relationship between extrusion pressure ratio,

and extrusion ratio, lnR

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