MICROSTRUCTURE PREDICTION IN AA6060 HOT PROFILE EXTRUSION

In the first part of the work an experimental procedure to investigate the evolution of recrystallization in aluminum alloys is presented and discussed. Several cups, obtained by means of inverse extrusion, were produced at different temperatures and process speeds. The specimens were analyzed in order to examine the grain size distribution. The coefficients for dynamic recrystallization models were obtained by regression analysis after thermo-mechanical FEM simulations of the experiments realized with the code Deform 3D. The specimens were then heated in a furnace and cooled in order to reproduce static recrystallization of the material. The grain distribution was examined and the coefficients for the equation for static recrystallization prediction were regressed, too. In the second part of the work the extrusion of a round-shaped profile is described and the grain size distribution on the profile and on the billet rest are analyzed. The developed equations were applied to the rod extrusion and the simulated grain size distributions were compared with the experimental ones.