Experimental investigation of process performance enhancing in extrusion of a magnesium hollow profile

In the present paper a new concept die purposely designed for magnesium extrusion has been investigated. Despite it is often common practice to adopt die design similar to aluminum production for magnesium, a tailored design has been develop with the aim to increase process efficiency and die resistance. The extrudate selected for the trials was a round hollow profile to be used in bike frames actually processed at 0,2mm/sec ram speed (1,4 m/min exit speed) in relation to the previously explained limits. Two magnesium alloys, ZM21 and AZ31, have been tested at various speeds in order to evaluate the process rate limit. Temperature and loads were also monitored during the extrusion trials