Experimental investigations of influence on grain size and cold deformational behavior of AL6063 during the microforming process

Abstract Miniature products are requisite to make micro creation widely in electronics and micromechanical products. The microfabrication process is identified to satisfy the production of such miniature products rather than an ordinary manufacturing process. Microextrusion is one of the microforming processes in micromanufacturing. In this present work, an attempt has been made to investigate the influence of grain size and deformation behavior of Al6063 microstepped pin with annealed billets for the cold extrusion process. The methodology on the characterization of the microextrusion of Al6063 includes, annealing of the billet, extrusion testing, microhardness examination and surface roughness analysis. The billet with three different sizes of grains is extruded. The experimental result shows that the deformation load and average microhardness of the AA96 (annealed Al6063 with an obtained grain size of 96 μ m) are high compared to AA208 (annealed Al6063 with an obtained grain size of 208 μ m). The surface finish has improved using diamond-like carbon (DLC) coated die compared to uncoated and lubricated dies. DLC coating with AA208 billet achieved a maximum pin length of 13.1 mm, and uncoated die with AA96 billet achieved a minimum pin length of 5.5 mm. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to the fundamental understanding of cold microextrusion of aluminium 6063 alloy.