Overview of Various Bending Methods Directly after Extrusion Process

摘要

This paper gives an overview of state of the art production methods for bending Al-profiles directly during extrusion. The direct bending of Al-profiles during the extrusion process has numerous advantages in comparison to the conventional bending processes. Since the workpiece is still warm during the bending process, the spring back phenomenon can be avoided. Smaller bending radii can be achieved in a single step process. There are several basic differences among the existing direct bending methods. Some methods influence the material flow during the extrusion, so that a curved profile leaves the extrusion die. Other methods use a bending apparatus, which is directly placed behind the extrusion die. FEM simulations were performed in this study to give a qualitative evaluation and potential of each bending method to be developed to produce 3-dimensional bent profiles.