Abstract:The constitutive relation of powder material was derived based on the assumption that metal powder is a kind of elasto-plastic material, complying with an elliptical yield criterion. The constitutive integration algorithm was discussed. A way to solve the elastic strain increment in each iteration step during elasto-plastic transition stage was formulated. Different integration method was used for elastic and plastic strain. The relationship between model parameters and relative density was determined through experiments. The model was implemented into user-subroutines of Marc. With the code, computer simulations for compaction process of a balancer were performed. The part is not axisymmetric and requires two lower punches and one upper punch to form. The relative density distributions of two design cases, in which different initial positions of the punches were set, were obtained and compared. The simulation results indicate the influence of punch position and movement on the density distribution of the green compacts.

Key words: balancer; powder compaction; numerical simulation; finite element; mechanical model