Numerical and experimental investigations of aluminium powder compaction

The FEM simulation is a powerful means which can drastically reduce the time to production and costs in the optimization of powder forming processes. The current paper investigates experimentally and numerically die compaction of aluminium powder. The plastic deformation is formulated by using the Drucker-Prager-Cap-model. This yield criterion describes the compressibility of porous bodies and allows the prediction of crack formation in the green compact. Axial compaction tests have been performed to determine material parameters for hardening. Simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the ability of the model to compute the distribution of the relative density. Furthermore, the compaction of an axisymmetric workpiece was simulated in order to determine optimal tools kinematics and to avoid crack formation.