Thermal Aspects of the Calibration of Extruded Profiles

The cooling stage in profile extrusion is a very important process step, as it affects the final dimensions of the profile, its dimensional stability and its mechanical performance. Unfortunately, heat removal during the cooling stage is very difficult to anticipate, especially in the case of complex profiles. Therefore, the ability to numerically model the profile cooling is an important tool to assist the extrusion designer. In the present work, a 3D finite volume method based numerical code of profile cooling is developed, results being presented for calibrators with different geometries