An investigation into the backward extrusion of thin walled cans

The production of thin cans is an important process in industry and backward extrusion appears to be the most efficient way for this purpose. Finite element method was used in this project along with upper bound analysis to investigate the process of backward extrusion of thin walled cans. In this investigation the extrusion pressure, the forces acting on the punch head and the thickness of the walls were studied while the shape of the punch head was varied using different profiled curves. It was shown that smaller and more uniform can wall thickness could be achieved by using a proper punch head profile.