Research Article

Continuous extrusion and rolling forming of copper strips

Engineering Research Center of Continuous Extrusion, Ministry of Education, Dalian Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, P.R. China

^* Corresponding author: yunxb@djtu.edu.cn

Received: 25 September 2015
Accepted: 5 February 2016

Abstract

Continuous extrusion and rolling technology was proposed as a new strip production technology. It conducts a hot rolling process using waste heat after continuous extrusion. The continuous extrusion and rolling forming was simulated with DEFORM-3D^T. Influences of extrusion wheel velocity and rolling reduction on the continuous extrusion and rolling forming were analyzed. It was shown that as extrusion wheel velocity increases, torque of extrusion wheel, chamber force and rolling force, will drop; temperature of the billet in the area of abutment which is highest will increase. As the rolling reduction is increased, torque of the extrusion wheel and force acting on the chamber decrease, while torque and force of the rolls increase. The experimental results showed that a homogeneously distributed and equiaxed grains microstructure can be formed in copper strip billets with an average grain size of about 80 μm, after continuous extrusion. Grains of the copper strips are stretched clearly, during rolling, along the rolling direction, to form a stable orientation. Nevertheless, the grain boundaries are still relatively clear to see.