Design of composite aluminum rod extrusion process using Taguchi method

Clad composite materials are composed of two or more materials joined at their interfacial surfaces. A major advantage of clad composites is that the combination of materials can result in a material with both enhanced mechanical properties and improved electrical characteristics. This paper employs the rigid-plastic finite element (FE) DEFORM? 2D software to investigate the plastic deformation behavior of an aluminum A1100-A6061 composite rod during its axisymmetric extrusion through a conical die. In the FE analysis, the container and die are assumed to be rigid bodies and the temperature change induced during extrusion is ignored. Under various extrusion conditions, the numerical analysis investigates the flow-net of the billet, the effective stress-strain distribution, the die load, and the billet displacement at the exit of the die. The relative influences of the semi-angle of the conical die, the friction factors, the temperature of the A1100 aluminum alloy, and the temperature of the A6061 aluminum alloy are systematically examined. In addition, the Taguchi method is applied to optimize the extrusion process parameters. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of this robust design methodology in optimizing the extrusion process of the current Al100-A6061 aluminum alloy composite rod.