Accurate Welding Line Prediction in Extrusion Processes

In contrast to conventional extrusion processes, where a lot of research is done on in the welding quality, in composite extrusion, research is investigated into the welding line positioning. As a result of the process principle, the reinforcing elements are embedded into the longitudinal welding line. Hence, an undefined material flow inside the welding chamber induces reinforcement deflection, which can lead to reduced mechanical properties, as momentum of inertia. Therefore and to reduce costly experimental investigations, a new method of an automated numerical welding line prediction was developed. The results form HyperXtrude finite element calculations are used for special particle tracing simulations to predict the welding line in the profile cross section accurately. The procedures of segmentation and characteristic extraction are presented to approximate the welding line by cubic spline functions. The method was fully programmed in the Java program language, and works well for all HyperXtrude process models consisting of tetrahedral elements.