New concepts of extrusion dies to reduce the anisotropy of extruded profiles by means of additive manufacturing

Abstract

The directionality of material flow in established forming processes often leads to a material-specific development of anisotropic mechanical properties. The significance is determined by the process related state variables. A new approach to control the state variables and to reduce the mechanical anisotropy is based on an extrusion die design concept where material flow components perpendicular to the extrusion direction (ED) are adjusted. Specially shaped internal free-form surfaces require additive manufacturing for the establishment of the dies. A concept for a flat band profile is elaborated and the impact on exemplary lightweight alloys, aluminum alloy AA6060 and magnesium alloy AZ31 is discussed.