The friction in rod forward and backward micro extrusion

Micro parts are increasingly applied in industry because of the trend to miniaturization every day devices. Microforming is a method of manufacturing metal micro elements using a plastic treatment. This kind of production ensures high productivity, shapes and dimensions repeatability and good surface quality. Size effect connected with small dimensions affects changes in treatment processes of micro parts. While forming in micro scale, surface roughness is size independent and does not decrease with decreasing detail dimensions. The article presents schemas for forward and backward extrusion of metal rods. Using FEM, tool’s roughness as a triangle wave has been assumed, taking into account thereby size effect. Influence of roughness on extrusion forces by comparison with traditional flat tools and constant friction shear factor m has been specified. Impact of roughness caused growth of extrusion forces while forward extruding. On the contrary, backward extrusion ensured stable required forces, regardless of a surface structure.