A Double Wheel Device to Induce a Severe Plastic Deformation in Drawing: a Study for Flexible Manufacturing Systems Within Industry 4.0 Paradigm.

Abstract Equal channel angular drawing (ECAD) represents the most successful severe plastic deformation (SPD) technique for continuous industrial manufacturing of longer wires, with a constant cross-section, characterized by smaller diameters and better mechanical properties (i.e. high strain and hardness) mainly due to the grain size refinement. In this paper an advanced innovative concept to impose SPD, on commercial 1370 pure aluminium wires (Al 99.7%), is proposed to improve the flexibility of the classic manufacturing method of ECAD by controlling and regulating process parameters in real time, obtaining several combinations of mechanical properties and increasing productivity. This paper provides an analysis of mechanical and microstructural changes occurring during ECAD process and, preserving the principles of the ECAD method, describes an innovative concept of plastic deformation showing the potential improvements to practice. The proposed manufacturing system has been validated in a digital ecosystem, performing a finite element analysis (FEA); the latter implements a flow stress empirical model, that includes the influence of the grain size change, for the material behaviour and two customized user-subroutines for predicting grain refinement and hardness variation. The study demonstrates the technique potential and, at the same time, how it is possible to mix simulation and reality in the hybrid World promoted by Industry 4.0 paradigm.