New methods for the fast simulations of the extrusion process of hot metals

Being able to find alternatives to the costly and time-consuming trial and error current practice in die design based on know-how acquired by practitioners throughout years is of primary importance in the aluminum extrusion industry. In this paper, two programs aimed at helping extruders in estimating the performance and feasibility of processes and simulating in details the flow of material in the press, are presented. Although they have been used so far for aluminum alloys, they could also be applied to other extrusion applications like that of other metals and polymers for instance. Together with a process simulator, which enables one to obtain a fast estimate of the extrusion process performances and computer-aided production of aluminum extrudates, a three-dimensional software dedicated to the design of dies with complicated shapes is also described.