Hybrid Cutting Extrusion of Commercially Pure Aluminum Alloys
Abstract
Commercial sheets, strips and wires are currently produced from aluminum alloys by multi-step deformation processing involving rolling and drawing. These processes typically require 10 to 20 steps of deformation, since the plastic strain or reduction that can be imposed in a single step is limited by material workability and process mechanics. In this work, a fundamentally different, single-step approach is demonstrated for producing these aluminum products using machiningbased deformation that also enables higher material workability in the formed product. Two process routes are proposed: 1) chip formation by Free Machining (FM), and 2) constrained chip formation by Hybrid Cutting Extrusion (HCE). Using the very soft and highly ductile commercially pure aluminum alloys as representative systems, various material flow transitions in response to the concentrated shear deformation are observed in FM including plastic instabilities. The flow instabilities usually manifested as folds of varying amplitudes on the unconstrained surface of the chips, are features that limit the desirability of the chip and potential use for strip applications. To suppress these instabilities, two strategies both involving deformation geometry design are outlined: 1) By using large positive rake angle, the flow can be transformed to be more laminar and thus reduces to a substantial amount, the flow instabilities. This also makes it possible for light rolling/drawing reductions to be adopted to smoothen the residual surface folds to improve the strip finish. 2) By using a constraining tool coupled with the cutting tool in what is referred to as HCE, the initial instability that leads to plastic buckling of the material is suppressed, thereby making the flow laminar and thus improve the quality of the strips. Key property attributes of the chips produced by the shear-based deformation processes such as improved mechanical properties and in the case of HCE, superior surface finish compared to conventional processes of rolling/drawing are highlighted. Implications for commercial manufacture of sheet, strip and wire products are discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Trumble, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Analytical chemistry|Chemistry|Energy|Materials science|Mechanics
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