ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.

1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

The analysis of distributions of effective strain and flow stress

in longitudinal sections of cold backward extruded copper cans
for different punch-face shapes
Tomasz Miłek1,*
1Kielce
University of Technology, Faculty of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, Department of Applied Computer Science and
Armament Engineering, al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland, UE

Abstract. The paper presents computer modelling results of researches on cold backward extrusion of
copper cans. The calculations were carried out using the commercial code QFORM-2D, based on the Finite
Element Method (FEM). The simulation of cold backward extrusion process was performed for different
punch-face shapes (flat; flat and conical with conical angle 900 and 1500; as well as concave). On the basis
of obtained results, the analysis of distributions of effective strain and flow stress in longitudinal sections of
cold backward extruded copper cans was conducted.

1 Introduction The deformation ratios of material in the literature

[2,3,8] was defined as relative: strain of can bottom
The process of backward extrusion of cans still plays an thickness εh, reduction in the area εA and equivalent
important role in the manufacturing industries [1]. strain ε. The strain εh, is calculated according to the
Copper cans are traditionally produced in multi-stage following formula [2,3]:
deep drawing processes which, however, have some h 
h h0  h1

drawbacks, namely the design cost, material waste and ho h0
inconsistent wall thickness [2,3]. Backward extrusion (1)
could be considered an alternative manufacturing where:
process to produce cans [4]. When compared with other h – the punch displacement in mm,
manufacturing processes, backward extrusion offers h0 – billet height in mm,
many advantages, including lower material consumption, h1 – thickness of cup bottom in mm,
higher dimensional accuracy and surface quality, The reduction in the area εA can be estimated from the
adequate mechanical and microstructural properties and relationship given below [2,3]:
reduction or complete elimination of machining. A0  As d02  d s2 (2)
Products after extrusion have better mechanical A  
A0 d02
properties than those of the original material due to where:
favourable grain flow [5-7]. Although backward A0 – cross sectional area of the billet in mm2,
extrusion has significant capabilities in production, it A1 - cross sectional area of the die stamping in mm2,
also shows some limitations. The unsteady deformation d0 – diameter of billet in mm,
zone, which causes different strain distribution through ds – diameter of punch in mm,
the extruded part, is one of the problems [5]. The unit operation of work of plastic deformation in
The backward extrusion process, in which metal industrial practice is determined by the homogeneous
flows in the opposite direction to that of the punch equivalent strain ε. It is given by a formula [8]:
movement, is relatively more energetically efficient. In A0
the process, friction is considerably reduced, because the   ln
A1
friction along the chamber walls does not need to be
(3)
overcome. The material coming through the orifice
formed by the punch land and the die wall undergoes no
strain after this point. The remaining volume between 1.1 State of the art
the punch and the die bottom (or the ejector) is only
partly located in the deformation zone. Depending upon Cold backward extrusion of circular-shaped parts made
the geometrical and friction conditions, a dome-shaped from copper and aluminium and the design of the tooling
rigid plastic zone is formed in this region. The factors have been reported in some studies [1,4,5,7,9-20]. Those
that affect the zone mentioned above include the can covered both experimental and computer modelling
bottom thickness and the reduction in the area [2]. investigations.

*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

Lee and Kwan [9] proposed a kinematically modified Farhoumand and Ebrahimi [5] examined the effects
admissible velocity field for the backward extrusion of of geometrical parameters including die corner radius
internally circular-shaped tubes from arbitrarily shaped and gap height, and of the process conditions, such as
billets. From the proposed velocity field, the upper- friction, on the radial-backward extrusion process.
bound extrusion load and average extruded height for In Wang et al. [14], recent developments in the
regular polygonal-shaped billets were determined with friction testing techniques for aluminium extrusion
respect to the chosen parameters. processes were discussed and detailed comparisons of
Zasadziński [10] evaluated the usefulness of different these techniques were made.
methods for continuous extrusion of aluminium and its The most papers are concerned with the analysis on
alloys, based on the analysis of active friction forces the forming of copper in micro-backward can extrusion
possible to achieve in these methods. The Linex, process [15-20]. Ch. Chang et al. [15] discussed the
Extrolling, Conform processes, as well as two methods effects of temperature and grain size on the deformation,
proposed by the author were analysed. dimension variation, and change of microstructure of
Y.H. Kim and Park [11] studied backward extrusion copper from combined backward and forward extrusion
process with low die rotation. The objective of at the micro scale. They conducted a series of
investigations was to address problems related to investigations into extrusion of copper micro cups with
conventional backward extrusion process, namely the 0.1 mm thickness. Three forming temperatures: 25, 200
necessity of using a large forming machine, the difficulty and 400 ºC, were considered in the micro extrusion
in selecting the die material due to high surface pressure, experiments. Their studies show that the grain
costs related to the reduction in noise and vibration refinement improves material flow and thus lead to a
generated from the forming machine, and others. They better die filling with less variation in the rim height and
analysed experimental results for torsional and wall thickness of the cup portion of the extruded part at
conventional backward extrusions. Results were relatively lower forming temperature.
compared using two methods, i.e. upper bound technique Wang et al. [16] demonstrated that forming process
for computing the velocity field, and FEM simulation of dispersion strengthened copper welding electrode
with DEFORM-3D. consists of a forward extrusion and a backward
Thomas [12] conducted a series of investigations into extrusion. They analysed the characteristics of metal
cold backward extrusion of cans for copper before and flow and the effect of different friction factors. Wang et
after heat treatment. He analysed the experimental al. [16] carried out the simulation of the upsetting-
change of the force for copper cans at the reduction in extruding process using Deform-2D finite element
area εA=0,360-0,639. analysis software.
Żmudzki A. et al. [13] presented numerical (FEM) Geisdorfer et al. [17] investigated a possibility of
and experimental results of the analysis of tests, which using an ultrafine grained copper for micro-extrusion.
were performed to determine the friction coefficient in The microforming process of backward extrusion was
two types of metal forming processes (ring compression carried out at room temperature using half cylindrical
and combined forward-backward extrusion). billets. The extrusion force, grain flow, shape
Experiments were performed for copper deformed at representation and surface quality of the extruded micro-
room temperature. Żmudzki A. et al. demonstrated that components were compared.
friction coefficient calculated from the ring compression Chan et al. [18] studied a size effect in micro-
tests was slightly lower that determined from the direct- extrusion process of pure copper. The size effect on
indirect extrusion test. material deformation behaviours was characterised by
In their study, Shatermashhadi V. et al. [1], proposed grain size, part feature size, forming material size and
a method of backward extrusion using small diameter interfacial condition. Chan et al. [18] performed research
billet. Their die setup consisted of three major on micro-forward, backward, combined forward rod-
components, namely the fix-punch, the moveable punch backward can and double cup extrusions.
and the matrix. They demonstrated that the load was Bazaz et al. [19] evaluated the microstructure
reduced to about less than a quarter when compared with evolution of a pure copper processed by accumulative
the conventional backward extrusion process. back extrusion (ABE) method at room temperature. The
Shatermashhadi V. et al. also conducted numerical analysis of microstructure and hardness showed
investigations, in which the DEFORM 3D software was outstanding homogeneity improvement throughout the
used for FE simulations. In their another work [7], they workpieces.
discussed the applications of the modified process to L. Yi et al. [20] proposed theoretical model to predict
commercially pure aluminium. the backward extrusion force of copper-chromium alloy
Kim et al. [4] evaluated the effects of lubricants in based on Projection Pursuit Regression (PPR).
backward extrusion of a rectangular aluminium case
with large aspect ratio. The analysis of backward
1.2 The aim of investigations
extrusion of a rectangular aluminium box for electrical
battery casing was performed using MSC SuperForge, The paper presents computer modelling (FEM) results of
commercial finite volume software. The numerical investigations on cold backward extrusion of copper
analysis showed clearly that a friction factor of 0.2 yields cans. The different punch-face shapes were used for cold
an optimal forming shape, which was independently extrusion (flat; flat and conical with conical angle 900
confirmed by experimental results.

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ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

and 1500 and concave). Based on obtained results at surface. Eq. (9) could be considered as a combination of
relative strains εh=0,69 and εA= 0.67 and ε= 1.1, the the constant friction model and the Coulomb friction
analysis of distributions of effective strain and flow model. The formula combined the advantages of both
stress in longitudinal sections of cold backward extruded models [22,25]:
copper cans was conducted. Pure copper was selected as  n
Ft  m (1  exp( 1,25 )
the testing material in these investigations due to its 3 
(9)
excellent formability and wide applications in industry. 
where m was the friction factor, n was the normal
contact pressure.
2 Models and assumptions in numerical The flow stress characteristics were given as a
modelling with QFORM-2D function of the strain rate:
n

Computer modelling of metal forming processes is   C (10)

nowadays widely used for optimisation and shape Based on literature data [26] Eq. (10) was adopted
prediction of newly designed parts during their for numerical modelling of cold backward extrusion of
manufacturing. At present there are many FEM systems copper cans:
to numerically investigate metal forming processes. 0.3
Programs related to issues of forging and extrusion   420 
include: QForm MSC Superform, Deform, Forge, MSC (11)
Marc. QForm-2D/3D (Quantor-Form Ltd., Russia) uses The investigations into backward extrusion involved the
the flow formulation for material behaviour. The use of circular sectioned copper segments of rods with
estimation of the QForm simulation results was carried diameter d0 = 24.5 mm and height h0 = 16 mm
out in several works [21-24]. The analysis of these (h0/d0=0.65). A tool for backward extrusion was
papers shows the good compatibility between the results equipped with replaceable punches with different punch
of numerical simulation and experimental data. shapes and constant diameter ds= 20mm (Fig. 1). Initial
Calculations of metal flow and study distributions of workpiece and tools temperatures were 200C and 100C,
effective strain, flow stress and changes in loading were respectively.
carried out with commercial code QFORM2D based on
Finite Element Method (FEM). a) b)
The extruded material was incompressible rigid-plastic
continuum and elastic deformations were neglected. The
system of governing equations included the following
[22,25]:
- equilibrium equations
 ij , j  0
(4)
- compatibility conditions
 1
 ij  ( i , j   j ,i )
2 (5)
- constitutive equations
2 
 ij'  
 ij
3 (6) c) d)
- incompressibility equation
 i ,i  0
(7)
- expression for flow stress

   ( ,  , T ) (8)


and  ij – components of stress and strain-rate

 ij
where
tensors,  i – velocity components, ij – deviatoric stress
'


tensor,  ,  ,  – effective stress, strain and strain-rate,

respectively, T – temperature.
In Eqs 4-8, summation convention was used. The
prime denoted a derivative with respect to the axis Fig. 1. The different punch-face shapes used in experiment
following it. The indexes i and j for two-dimensional and modelling of cold backward extrusion of copper cans: a)
flat; b) flat and conical with a conical angle 1500 ; c) flat and
problems varied from 1 to 2, and repeated subscript conical with a conical angle 900 d) concave.
represented summation.
The friction model proposed by Levanov et. al
[22,25] was used for the contact region of workpiece

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ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

3 Results and analysis copper cans at flat punch-face and flat and conical
punch-face shapes with conical angle 900 (Fig. 2a and
The numerical investigations produced copper cans in Fig. 2b).
cold backward extrusion with strain of can bottom The analysis of the process was conducted based on
thickness εh=0.69 and reduction of the area εA= 0.67 and results of numerically computed effective strain and flow
homogeneous equivalent strain ε=1.1 for different stress distributions at intersections of backward extruded
punch-face shapes (flat; flat and conical with conical die stampings, too (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4).
angle 900 and 1500 and concave). Results of the Based on the analysis of numerically calculated
simulation process showed that the model of boundary effective strain distribution (shown in the Fig. 3) at the
conditions, presented in previous chapter, proved intersection of backward extruded cans made from
adequate. To analyse metal flow in the computer copper, it can be stated that in the different stages of the
program, the flow lines were imposed. They formed a modelling, the maximum effective strain values were
grid that made it possible to view the displacement and found in the die stamping inner wall forming and area of
distortion of the metal selected volumes in deformations. the inner radii of the bottom transition to the wall. The
In the simulation, ten inner flow lines along the OX and maximum value of the effective strain was found in the
OY axes were assumed. Numerically calculated last last stage of simulation of cold backward extrusion for
stages of backward extrusion for different punch-face copper can extruded with concave punch shape. It
shapes are presented in the Fig. 2. occurred in inner walls and reached the value of 5.652
a) b) (Fig. 3d). In all stages of simulation of cold backward
extrusion of copper cans for concave punch shape
considered values of the effective strain were higher than
values obtained for extruded die stampings by using
other punch shapes (flat; flat and conical with conical
angle 900 and 1500 and concave, respectively). In cold
backward extrusion of copper cans with strain of can
bottom thickness εh = 0.69 and reduction of the area
εA = 0.67 and homogeneous equivalent strain ε=1.1,
maximum value of the effective strain obtained in
longitudinal section extruded die stamping for flat and
c) d) conical punch-face shape with conical angle 1500 (Fig.
3b) did not differ much from maximum value of the
effective strain for can formed at conical punch-face
shape (Fig. 3c) with conical angle 900 (3.919 and 3.870,
respectively). The maximum value of the effective strain
obtained for copper can with flat punch-face shape
(3.306) was smaller by approx. 41 % than the value
obtained for die stamping with concave punch-face
shape (Fig. 3d). The lowest values of effective strain
occurred slightly outside the projection of the punch
edges on the bottom surface for all types of punches
Fig. 2. Numerically calculated last stages a.- d. (which
corresponded to equivalent strain ε=1.1 and εA= 0,67) (Fig. 3a-d).
of backward extrusion of copper can for different punch Numerically obtained flow stress distributions in
shapes: a) flat, b) flat and conical flat with conical angle longitudinal sections of cold backward extruded copper
1500, c) flat and conical with conical angle 900, d) concave. cans for different punch shape are presented in the Fig.
4a-d. No significant differences were found while
The analysis of the flow lines confirmed the literature analysing the maximum values of flow stress for cold
conclusions [2,3,8,23,27] concerning the occurrence of backward extrusion of copper cans for different punch-
characteristic areas in the cross-section of extruded face shape. The highest value of the flow stress was
stampings at flat punch-face shape. The flow lines below noted in last stages of simulation for all punch shapes. It
the punch exhibit a curvature about the axis and the amounted to 420MPa (Fig. 4a-d). The main differences
streamlines are curved toward the outside [3]. There are were observed in changes of distribution of flow stress in
four zones of deformation in the cross-section of cans intersection of cold backward extruded cans. The area of
[2,3,8,23,27]. The lowest hardening area is located maximum flow stresses occurred in inner walls of copper
outside of the bottom part and the upper part of can. The cans in all cases of punch shapes (Fig. 4a-d) and in the
intermediate area includes the inner part of the bottom bottom of die stampings for backward extrusion at flat
and the zone adjacent to the outer wall of the product. punch-face (Fig. 4a). The zone of relative lower flow
The strongest hardening area occurs at the inner surface stresses was observed outside of the bottom part (corners
of the can wall. The described deformation zones have of the die) for extrusion at flat and conical punch-face
also been observed in investigations of cold backward shapes with conical angle 900 and 1500 (Fig. 4b and Fig.
extrusion of copper cans for different punch-face shapes 4c). Besides, it was located the inner part of the bottom
(Fig. 2a-d). The most deformed flow lines were observed for die stamping with concave punch-face shape (Fig.
in longitudinal sections of cold backward extruded 4d).

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ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

a) d)

b)
Fig. 3. Numerically computed effective strain distribution at
the intersection of backward extruded can for the last stage of
computer modelling (εh = 0.69; εA = 0.67; ε = 1.1) and for
different punch shapes: a) flat, b) flat and conical flat with
conical angle 1500, c) flat and conical with conical angle 900,
d) concave
a)

c)

b)

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ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
CMES’17

c) a)

b)

d)

Fig. 5 The influence of punch shape on the cold backward

extrusion force for copper cans at εA= 0,67 and ε= 1,1: a)
numerical results, b) experimental investigations [23].

4 Summary
Although commercial package of QForm2D has been
especially designed for numerical simulation of forging
processes, the 2D FE model successfully described the
Fig. 4. Numerically computed flow stress distribution at the backward extrusion of copper cans. It was possible to
intersection of backward extruded can for the last stage of conduct cold backward extrusion of copper cans with
computer modelling (εh = 0.69; εA = 0.67; ε = 1.1) and for strain of can bottom thickness εh=0.69 and reduction of
different punch shapes: a) flat, b) flat and conical flat with area εA= 0.67 and homogeneous equivalent strain ε=1.1
conical angle 1500, c) flat and conical with conical angle 900,
for different punch-face shapes (flat; flat and conical
d) concave
with conical angle 900 and 1500 and concave). It is
confirmed by results of successfully performed computer
Results of calculations of cold backward extrusion of
modelling in these paper and experimental tests
copper cans process were validated against experimental
presented in previous author’s studies [23]. The
data in terms of changes in forces for different punch
maximum value of the effective strain obtained for
shape. For the assumed maximum punch displacement
copper can with concave punch-face shape was higher
h=11mm (which corresponded to the εh = 0.69; εA =
by approx. 70 % than the value obtained for die
0.67; ε = 1.1) successful experimental tests were
stamping with flat punch-face shape. No significant
conducted (Fig. 5). The 2D FE models successfully
differences were found while analysing the maximum
described the backward extrusion of copper cans.
values of flow stress for cold backward extrusion of
Comparing changes in forces in cold backward extrusion
copper cans with for different punch-face shape. The
for different punch shape, a conclusion that the load Pw
highest value of the flow stress was noted in last stages
increases with an increase in displacement h and strain of simulation for all punch shapes.
of can bottom thickness εh can [23].

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ITM Web of Conferences 15, 07014 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/itmconf/20171507014
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