Abstract: Heat energy change during the extrusion of 7075 aluminium alloy large-size tube with piece-wing in a container was analyzed. Extrusion load vs ram displacement diagrams and exit temperature vs ram displacement diagrams at various speeds were obtained by 3D FEM simulation. Results show that the exit temperature becomes higher as the ram speed and displacement increase. For large-size tube with piece-wing, there is certainly a curve of ram speed decreasing with increasing ram displacement, which enables isothermal extrusion to be achieved. Therefore, an attempt was made to divide the working stroke into five different zones. Each of them has a preset speed that decreases from the ram displacement beginning to the ending. And then, new exit temperature vs ram displacement diagram was obtained by 3D FEM simulation for the five different speeds. It is shown that the variation of exit temperature is very small. Through the above research, a basic method for realizing isothermal extrusion of 7075 large-size tube with piece-wing was obtained, that is, the working stroke was divided into several different zones with a decreasing speed during extrusion, each zones' speed was real-time adjusted on the feedback signal of exit temperature by proportional hydraulic valve through closed-loop control. The engineering experiment verification was carried out on 100 MN aluminium extrusion press with oil-driven double action. The experimental results of the exit temperature agrees with the simulation ones. The achievements of this study may serve as a significant guide to the practice of the relevant processes, particularly for isothermal extrusion. The verified method has been used in the design and manufacture of 125 MN aluminium extrusion press with oil-driven double action.

Key words: Extrusion, Large-size aluminium profile, FEM, Temperature, Unequal plastic deformation