Modelling of Metal Flow for Bearing Design

Prepared by Xinquan Zhang and John Heathcock

Comalco Aluminium Ltd., Australia
ABSTRACT --- Due to the complexity of metal flow in extrusion of aluminium
sections, the bearing design for extrusion dies mainly depends on the skill and
experience of the die designer. This paper explores the feasibility of using finite
element modelling to determine bearing lengths for flat-face dies. The technique
developed includes three steps: (1) automatic generation of 3D finite element mesh;
(2) prediction of potential flow rate using flow simulation coupled with thermal
analysis; (3) conversion of potential flow rate to the bearing length assignment. Two
dies with moderate geometrical complexity were chosen for verification of the
technique. The bearing lengths suggested by modelling are compared with the
actual designs of the dies. Issues with applying the technique to specific die designs
are discussed.

1. INTRODUCTION
In extrusion of solid aluminium sections, metal flow
is controlled primarily by adjusting bearing lengths
around a die orifice, although in some cases die
layout and pockets also play important roles in flow
control. It is well known that metal flows faster in
the billet centre than in the periphery zone due to
the friction between the billet and container wall.
Also, it is easier for aluminium to flow through a
wide part of a die orifice than through a narrow part.
These considerations formed the basis of the
conventional bearing design rules developed since
(1)(2)(3)
. However, as metal always tends
the 1960s
to flow along the path that provides less resistance,
the flow in a particular region depends not only on
its width and distance from the container wall, but
also on the geometry of the surrounding subregions
of the die orifice (4). Because of the complexity and
variety of aluminium sections, interaction of orifice
subregions is practically impossible to be described
in any form of design rules. Furthermore, it is very
difficult to quantify the impact of temperature and
die deflection on flow. Thus, bearing design still
relies on experience and often a trial-and-error
approach is employed when developing a new
design.
In recent years, several research institutes and
universities have initiated studies on the feasibility
of using computer modelling with finite element
(5)
methods for extrusion die design. Herberg et al
analyzed flat-face dies using commercial software.
They demonstrated that 3-D finite element analyses
could provide valuable information for improving die
designs. However, due to the high cost involved in

such analyses, they concluded the technique was

most suitable for developing design principles
rather than designing specific dies.
A similar
suggestion was made by Devadas et al (6)(7) based
on their modelling work on the design rules for
pocket dies. Application of numerical simulations
was further extended to porthole dies by Zhang et
al (8) and Skauvik et al (9). More complicated die
geometry was involved in these studies. While all
these pioneering researchers showed promising
results, they also revealed enormous challenges in
applying finite element simulations to realistic die
designs. Hardware is no longer a barrier with the
rapid development in computer capacities in recent
years. The major barrier now appears to be the
cost associated with model set-up and computation
time.
Thus, in order to make finite element
simulations practically applicable, the process has
to be simplified as much as possible with minimal
compromise in the accuracy of the analysis.
This paper focuses on the application of
numerical simulation to bearing design for flat-face
dies. A 3-D finite element code with coupling of
thermal and flow analysis is used to predict the flow
rates in different die orifice subregions. The data
are then directly converted into bearing lengths
based on achieving flow balance. Two dies with
moderate complexity are analysed and the
calculated bearing lengths are compared with the
actual designs. The emphasis of our study is to
develop a computer modelling technique which is
cost effective and applicable to specific die designs.

2. MODELLING METHOD

& = A [sinh (

Steady-state Approach
Extrusion is a non-steady process as the billet
length and temperature conditions continually
change during the extrusion cycle. Ideally, the
process should be simulated using the Lagrangian
description in which the finite element mesh
deforms with the billet. In this way, the thermomechanical history and free surface formation of
the extruded section can be studied directly.
However, this method requires frequent re-meshing
during an analysis due to excessive distortion of
elements in the deformation zones. This not only
severely reduces computation efficiency, but also
adversely affects the robustness of the modelling
process. Therefore, this method is not suitable for
flow simulation of the process involving a large
extrusion ratio.
In contrast, the Eulerian description uses a
fixed mesh that is independent of the deforming
material. This method is ideal for analysing steadystate forming processes. As no re-meshing is
required, large deformation can be simulated with a
relatively low computation cost. For modelling
purposes, extrusion can be regarded as a quasisteady-state process. Except for the early and final
stages of the cycle, the deformation zone in the
billet is largely stable, although variation in
temperature may change its shape to some extent.
From the die design viewpoint, a steady-state flow
analysis is adequate and justifiable, as the die has
to be designed based on the flow pattern at a
particular stage of the extrusion process.
Accordingly, only steady-state flow analysis using
the Eulerian description is considered in the
present work.

Finite Element Formulation

Neglecting elastic deformation, the material is

assumed to be rigid viscoplastic obeying the
constitutive equation:
/(3 &)

&ij

(2)

where the material constants A, , Q and n were

determined by hot-torsion tests (13) and R is the
universal gas constant.
The velocity field in the computation domain
is determined from the variational function:

&dV + k &ii &ii dV - s Fi ui dS = 0

(3)

where k is a large positive value of approximately

104 to 105 to enforce the incompressibility condition,
F is the known force on the boundary and u is the
velocity. After applying the standard discretization
process, equation (3) becomes a system of nonlinear equations with the form:
F(U) = 0

(4)

where U is a vector of nodal velocity components.

The governing equation for the steady-state
thermal analysis is expressed as:
K2T + &= c uTT

(5)

where K is the thermal conductivity, is the fraction

of heat generated from plastic deformation, is the
density, c is the thermal capacity and u is the
velocity.
Equations (2) and (5) show that temperature
and flow are interrelated so a coupled analysis is
highly desirable. In our analyses, the velocity and
temperature are calculated sequentially, instead of
simultaneously, to reduce the requirement for
computer storage capacity and total CPU time.

Friction Conditions

The 3-D flow simulation code is based on the

rigid viscoplastic finite element method with
coupled thermal analysis (10). The basic equations
are given below for completeness while the detailed
(11)(12)
.
formulae can be found elsewhere

ij = 2

)] n exp [(Q/(RT)]

(1)

where ij is the deviator stress, &ij is the strain

rate, is the flow stress of the material, which is a

On the container inner surface, a sticking

condition prevails as demonstrated by experiments
(14)
and industry experience. This condition is
simulated by using a thin layer of elements
representing the billet surface and fixing the nodes
which are in contact with the container.
Friction on the die and dummy block faces is
(11)
described by a modified shear friction law :
f=-

2
Vs
m tg 1( Vo )( Vs
)
Vs
3

(5)

&

where Vs is the relative sliding velocity, Vo is a

positive number much smaller than Vs, and m is
the friction factor with a value of 0.7 (15).

The flow stress of aluminium is described by

the Zener-Hollomon equation:

The description (5) ensures that a friction force

is always in the opposite direction of material flow.
It also allows for smooth transition of the friction

function of both strain rate and temperature; and

is the effective strain rate.

force in the regions where metal streams separate,

which helps to improve the convergence in nonlinear iteration.
Accurately specifying the friction condition for
bearing surfaces is difficult and challenging. In the
Bearing Length Calculation section, we describe
an approach which takes into account the effect of
friction on bearing surfaces indirectly rather than
directly.

Iterative Algorithm
The non-linear equation (4) is solved by means
of iteration from an initial estimate. Very often, the
initial approximation is far from the true solution and
the difficulty in convergence occurs. For problems
involving a large number of degrees of freedom, a
slow convergent rate greatly increases the
computation cost, making numerical analysis
virtually impractical. In the last decade, a persistent
effort has been made to find an efficient and robust
iterative algorithm applicable to the rigid
viscoplastic finite element method (16).
This
resulted in the development of a novel iterative
algorithm (17) which has been successfully applied
to our die design simulations. According to our
experience, usually a solution can be obtained
within fifteen iterations. No divergent problems
have ever been encountered since the
implementation of this algorithm.

3. BEARING LENGTH CALCULATION

The outputs from a steady-state flow analysis
are the nodal velocity, nodal temperature, and
stress/strain rate in elements. The distribution of
strain can be obtained by integrating the strain rate
along flow paths of material from the billet to the die
exit.
The hydrostatic pressure can also be
calculated from the stress data. There are several
ways of utilising these simulation results for the
design of bearing lengths.
The first approach is based on the predicted
(5)
stress in the extruded section near the die exit . If
the stress in this region exceeds the yield stress of
the aluminium, severe distortion of the extruded
section occurs and the bearing lengths have to be
redesigned. An optimal bearing length design is
obtained by simulating a series of cases until the
stress in the region is minimised.
This approach allows for direct generation of a
computer design for die bearings. However, there
are several disadvantages that limit its applicability.
It requires repeated simulations so the process
is not cost effective;
Including bearing details in the FE model
makes mesh generation more complicated and
more time-consuming;

The predicability of the FE model is limited by

the lack of accurate description of friction on
bearing surfaces due to the complexity of the
parameter (18).

An alternative approach is based on the flow

balance consideration. This method uses potential
flow rate as the measurement of flow uniformity.
Potential flow rate is defined as the velocity at the
die entry when there is no restriction from the rigid
part of the extruded section. In practical terms, it is
the exit speed of section subregions when they are
allowed to flow freely.
For calculation of the potential flow rate, the
boundary of the finite element mesh ends at the die
entry, that is, neither the material within the die
channel, nor the extruded section is included in the
computation domain. The flow rates calculated
under this condition vary around the die orifice,
depending on the width and position of an orifice
subregion, the surrounding flow condition and the
temperature distribution.
The calculated potential flow rates are then
used to decide the bearing lengths for balanced
flow. Although various relationships between the
flow rate and bearing length can be established
experimentally, the simplest method is to make the
bearing length directly proportional to the predicted
flow rate. Following the conventional procedure,
bearing length assignment starts from the slowest
part of the section (except leg tips and small
details) with a minimum bearing length L0. The
bearing length at any point, Li, is then calculated
by:
Li = (Vi / V0) L0

(6)

where Vi and V0 are the potential flow rates at that

point and the starting point respectively.
Once the bearing lengths are defined, the
bearing profile needs to be smoothed to reduce the
steps in the bearing and to ensure proper blending.
The above approach is semi-empirical rather
than completely automatic because of the
assumption of dependence of bearing length on
flow rate. The main advantage of this method is
that it greatly simplifies the modelling procedure,
which, in turn, leads to a considerable saving in the
computation cost. The section below demonstrates
the applicability of this approach to flat-face die
designs.

4. APPLICATIONS
Dogbone Section
Akeret and Strehmel (19) conducted extrusion
trials on a dogbone section which consisted of two
round bars, 10 and 14 mm in diameter respectively,
and a connecting web of 2 mm in thickness (Figure
1). This section was selected as the first test case
for the present study to check out whether the
simulation could correctly predict the width effect.
The extrusion conditions were assumed as follows:
Container diameter 150 mm;
Ram speed 5 mm/s;
Billet and die temperature 450 C;
Container temperature 400 C.

Figure 2: FE mesh and temperature distribution

2
10

14
60

Figure 3: Vector plot of velocity in the billet

Figure 1: Dogbone die, reproduced from [19]

2.0
1.8

Figure 3 shows the predicted velocity field in

the billet. Each vector represents the direction and
magnitude of the velocity at the location of a node.
It can be seen that the velocities at the die entry, or,
potential flow rates, vary significantly with the width
of the section. The trend is more clearly illustrated
in Figure 4 which gives the distribution of the flow
rate along the centre line of the die orifice. For
convenience of comparison, the flow rate in Figure
4 was scaled by mean velocity.

1.6
1.4
Relative flow rate

The finite element mesh was generated using

the commercial software I-DEAS Master Series. 2D shell elements were first generated to represent
the die orifice and the die face. The elements were
then extruded in the axial direction to construct a
3-D mesh of brick elements. Taking advantage of
symmetry, only one half of the profile was
modelled. The finite element mesh together with
the predicted temperature distribution is shown in
Figure 2.
The temperature at the die entry
increases to about 500 C as the result of plastic
deformation in the region.

1.2

calculated
averge

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Location (distance from left edge, mm)

Figure 4: Distribution of flow rate along the

centre line of the die orifice

Figure 4 demonstrates that the fastest flow

takes place in the 14 bar while the slowest flow is
in the thin web. By averaging the flow rate in the
10 bar, central web and 14 bar, the ratio of the
flow
rates
for
these
regions
becomes
1.21:0.36:1.53. Assuming the bearing length for

80

the central web is 3 mm and using equation (6), the

calculated bearing lengths for 10 and 14 bars
are 10 and 13 mm respectively.
Empirically, the bearing length is set to be
proportional to 2A/p to reflect the width effect,
where A is the area of an orifice subregion and p is
the length of its periphery. Based on this principle,
the bearing lengths for the 10 bar, central web
and 14 bar should be 8, 3 and 11 mm
respectively.

Before starting mesh generation, the die orifice

was sized with inclusion of allowances for
shrinkage, dishing and tongue deflection. The
extrusion conditions (except the container
diameter) were assumed to be the same as for the
previous case.

The simulation design is compared with the

empirical design in Table 1. While both require that
the bearing length for 10 bar should be 3 mm
shorter than that for 14 bar, the simulation results
also suggest a longer bearing should be used for
both bars to further retard flow in these regions.
These suggestions are generally in line with the
reported observations (19) which showed that the
longer bearing for 14 bar could resulted in better
flow balance.
Figure 6: Vector plot of flow rate at the die entry
Location

Relative

Bearing Length (mm)

flow rate

empirical

simulation

10 bar

1.21

10

web

0.36

14 bar

1.53

11

13

Table 1: Bearing length assignment based on

calculated relative velocity

Wide Section

1.4
1.2
1.0

Relative flow rate

The die is shown in Figure 5. Because of the

size of the section, the extremities of the die orifice
are close to the container wall. A large variation in
bearing length is expected to achieve satisfactory
flow control. In addition, tongue deflection and
dishing also need to be considered.

Figure 6 shows that the modelling results

indicate a general trend of increasing flow rate from
the edge to the centre of the die. The distribution of
the scaled flow rate along the centre line of the
orifice is plotted in Figure 7. It clearly depicts nonuniformity of metal flow around the die orifice.
Noticeably, the flow rate fluctuates at every corner
of the die orifice, especially at the die centre where
the flow rate decreases instead of increases. It is
not clear whether this phenomenon derives from
inadequate material filling in these regions or
results from inaccuracy of the simulation due to
coarse elements used for these regions.

Container
184 mm

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

e
b
c
a

d
154.4

Figure 5:

f
g

Wide section die

0.0

3.2

20

40

60

d
80

100

e
120

140

160

180

200

220

Location (distance from left start point, mm)

Figure 7: Predicted potential flow rate at the centre

line of the die orifice (see Figure 5 for the
locations of a,b,c,d,e,f,g)

The bearing lengths for the orifice subregions

were determined using equation (6) after assigning
a minimum bearing length of 2.4 mm to the end of
the left leg. Figure 8 shows the simulated bearing
lengths as well as the bearing lengths assigned by
a skilled die designer. Overall, the simulated
design appears reasonable and agrees with the
general trend of the actual bearing assignment.
Some differences between the two designs are
discussed below.

While the present technique for bearing lengt h

assignment requires further finetuning, the above
examples clearly demonstrate that finite element
simulation is a powerful tool for designing bearings
of flat-face dies.
Issues with applying this
technique to specific die designs are discussed
below.

Model Set-up Time

10
9
8

Bearing Length (mm)

4. DISCUSION

7
6
5
4

by simulation

by die designer

2
1

0
0

b
20

40

c
60

80

100

e
120

f
140

160

180

200

g
220

Location (distance from left start point, mm)

Figure 8: Comparison of the bearing assignments

by simulation and by a die designer

Firstly, it is noticed that the simulation defined

extra steps in the bearing around each turning point
of the orifice. Such detailed bearing assignment is
perhaps not necessary as mechanical interaction
between the elements of the section partially
equalises flow in these regions. From the practical
viewpoint, frequent changes in the bearing length
should be avoided because they adversely affect
the surface finish of the extruded sections. Thus,
the bearing lengths determined by simulation need
smoothing and simplification. It appears that this is
an issue common to any method which involves
automatic bearing length assignment (20).
Secondly, Figure 8 shows a difference between
the two designs in the slope of the bearing from the
edge to the centre of the die orifice. Except for the
orifice ends, the calculated bearing lengths vary
from 5 mm to 8.5 mm, conforming well to the
empirical rule. But the die designer specified a
more pronounced increase in the bearing length to
the central subregion. This possibly originated from
consideration of the impact of die dishing and
tongue deflection, which resulted in longer bearing
in the central region to compensate for the
reduction in bearing effectiveness due to die
deflection. Inevitably, different die designers take
different approaches to deal with the effect of die
deflection on flow and there is no single bearing
design that is uniquely correct.

Finite element meshing is the most timeconsuming part of the simulation process. In our
method, a 3-D mesh is obtained by extruding 2-D
elements along the extrusion direction. It means
only two-dimensional discretion of the die face is
required for modelling of flat-face dies. Excluding
bearing details from the model further simplifies the
process of mesh generation. Nowadays most
commercial CAD systems and finite element
software packages are equipped with efficient twodimensional mesh generator. Thus, finite element
meshing should not constitute a major barrier to
numerical simulation of flat-face dies. According to
our experience, provided appropriate computer
hardware and software are used, model
preparation for a flat-face die with moderate
complexity should take no more than 3 to 4 hours.

Computation Time
Table 2 provides the CPU time used for the
present simulations on a Silicon Graphics (Indigo)
workstation. It shows that the current modelling
technique has reduced the CPU time required for a
detailed simulation to a level acceptable for
practical applications.

Dies
No. of nodes
No. of elements
No. of iteration
CPU time (minute)
Table 2

Dogbone
3510
2904
14
67

Wide Section
3090
2420
11
44

Computation conditions and CPU time for

simulation of two extrusion dies

For a given computer environment (hardware

and software), the CPU time largely depends on
total number of nodes and elements in the model.
The overall mesh size must be strictly controlled to
make the simulation financially viable. However,
small elements have to be used in the region close
to the die entry to accurately define the orifice
geometry and large gradients of solution variables.
The present examples show that both requirements
can be met by optimising element sizes in different

parts of the computation domain. As shown in

Figures 2 and 6, we used a relatively coarse mesh
in both examples but still managed to obtain
meaningful results.

5: REFERENCES
1. Baker, B, Aluminium Extrusion Die Design,
Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Sales Inc., 1963.

Modelling for Specific Die Designs

Because of the reduced model set-up time and
CPU time, it is now possible to complete the entire
modelling process, from model set-up to bearing
assignment, within one day for a flat-face die.
However, this is still too time-consuming for routine
die design. At this stage, the application of the
described modelling method may only be justified
for specific die designs. For instance, it may be
useful for troubleshooting or for dies that require
stringent control of metal flow.
Detailed flow
predictions and bearing length specifications can
certainly improve the quality of die designs and
minimise the trial and error process of current
design methods.

5: CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrates that it is
feasible to use finite element simulations to design
bearings for flat-face dies. For two dies modelled,
the simulation correctly predicted the trends in flow
rate distribution at the die entry. The bearing
lengths determined from the simulation generally
agreed with the experimental observations and
actual bearing assignment.
Simplification of the simulation process has
been achieved by implementing a series of novel
modelling techniques.
This has resulted in a
significant reduction in total computation cost with
minimal compromise in the quality of the analysis.
Thus it is now possible to apply finite element
simulations to studies of specific dies, especially
those that require stringent control of metal flow.
In our approach, the input from the die designer
still plays an important role in bearing length
assignment.
Due to the cost constraint, it is
impractical to include all process variables into a
finite element model.
Some tasks, such as
compensation for die deflection and bearing
smoothing, can be easily performed by a skilled die
designer, but can pose a challenge to a completely
automatic process.
Thus, computer aided die
design with finite element methods should be
regarded as a supplementary technique rather than
a replacement for the experience of a die designer.

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