Finite element analysis of pressure on 2024 aluminum alloy created during restricting expansion-deformation heat-treatment
(State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China)
Abstract: Metals heat-treated under high pressure can exhibit different properties. The heat-induced pressure on 2024 aluminum alloy during restricting expansion-deformation heat-treatment was calculated by using the ABAQUS finite element software, and the effects of the mould material properties, such as coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), elastic modulus and yield strength, on the pressure were discussed. The simulated results show that the relatively uniform heat-induced pressure, approximately 503 MPa at 500 °C, appears on 2024 alloy when 42CrMo steel is as the mould material. The heat-induced pressure increases with decreasing the CTE and the increases of elastic modulus and yield strength of the mould material. The influences of the CTE and elastic modulus on the heat-induced pressure are more notable.
Key words: aluminum alloy; heat-induced pressure; finite element modeling; temperature field; stress field; material properties