Using the Taguchi method and finite element method to analyze a robust new design for titanium alloy prick hole extrusion

In the process of prick hole extrusion, many factors must be controlled to obtain the required plastic strain and desired tolerance values. The major factors include lubricant, extrusion speed, billet temperature, and die angle. In this paper, we employed rigid-plastic finite element (FE) DEFORM™ software, to investigate the plastic deformation behavior of a titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) billet as it was extruded through a conical prick hole die. We systematically examined the influence of the semi-cone angle on the prick hole die, the diameter of prick hole die, the factor of friction, the velocity of the ram and the temperature of the billet, under various extrusion conditions. We analyzed the strain, stress and damage factor distribution in the extrusion process. We used the Taguchi method to determine optimum design parameters, and our results confirmed the suitability of the proposed design, which enabled a prick hole die to achieve perfect extrusion during finite element testing.