Design Optimization Coupled to Simulation: Approaching the Ideal Design of Extrusion Die.

The economic impact of optimization to troubleshooting process can be significant, especially if the defect is causing very high scrap rates or production requirements are not being met. Optimization is a tool that assists identify the concept optimal from a number of possible options, or even from an infinite set of options. It is increasingly applied in industry since it provides engineers a cheap and flexible means to identify optimal designs and processes before physical deployment.

The extrusion process is a process in which molten (thermoplastics and rubbers) polymer is forced through a shaped die using pressure, generated from the action of screw rotation against barrel wall. One of the problems encountered in the extrusion of profiles is unbalanced flow at the die exit; this process is complicated by the fact that polymers exhibit different degrees of non-Newtonian behavior when exposed to different shear rates in the die varying cross-section. Fundamental tools for the solution of this problem are the computational analysis tools that allow not only the flow balance as the optimization of the design and of the extrusion process.

With the arrived of the 4th Industrial revolution, old concepts such as adjusting the extrusion die manually and the "trial and error" process become obsolete and unproductive. It is needed to be striving for new innovations that guarantee the efficiency of tooling and the optimization of the extrusion process. The integration of development and manufacturing processes, the use of virtual simulations of product / tooling and the production process reduces the time for a new product to reach the market. The result is a faster return on innovation. Read the full article...