Simulations and measurements of combined induction heating and extrusion processes

The manufacturing process chain at glass-lubricated extrusion of stainless steel tubing is simulated using the finite element method. The developed model includes sub-models of induction heating, expansion and extrusion. An in-house mapping tool is used to transfer the temperature fields between the electromagnetic-thermal and thermo-mechanical analyses. Using the combined model it is possible to study the influence of different process parameters on the temperature distribution in the billet, and how this affects the final extrusion properties. In this study, the model is applied to two cases of tube extrusion, one using an austenitic stainless steel and one using a duplex, austenitic/ferritic, stainless steel. It is shown that the induction heating model successfully predicts the temperatures obtained experimentally from thermocouples placed in the steel billets during heating. The agreement between models and experiments regarding extrusion force and expansion force is satisfactory.