A study of extrusion of sintered powder metals (Q1905620)

The extrusion process of fully dense and sintered powder metals through axisymmetric tapering dies is studied. The fully dense material is taken to be rigid-perfectly-plastic, and it behaves according to the von Mises yield criterion. The sintered powder metal containing initial porosity is modelled by Gurson's plasticity. Sibel's law of friction, which is suitable for evaluating the friction forces at the interface between the powder metal and its supporter, is used to take into account the friction effect at the die-workpiece interface. As the matrix material is incompressible, the authors use the condition representing a constant flux of material flowing through a given cross-section at any position within the die. An asymptotic solution is found assuming that the profile of the axisymmetric die varies in a small angle \(\alpha\). The formulated governing equations are solved using the perturbation theory and taking into account the exitence of the small friction coefficient at the interface and small porosity in the workpiece. Based on the regular perturbation theory, the power expansion of the typical unknown is introduced. Its substitution in the governing equations and collection of the terms with the same power of \(\alpha\) yields a hierarchy of problems. Then the leading-order problem is considered which is a balance between longitudinal stress and shear stress. It is shown that for both considered cases the leading-order problems are identical. Thus, the study of the extrusion of sintered powder metals can be reduced to the extrusion of fully dense metals. Asymptotic expressions for the velocity components, stress components, and porosity in the workpiece are derived. The well-known slab flow and radial flow are confirmed under the present conditions. Numerical results represent the variations of the field variables vs parameters such as the die reduction ratio, the friction coefficient, and the initial porosity.