Numerical simulation of cold compaction of 3D granular packings

During cold compaction processes loose powder is pressed under tooling action in order to produce complex shaped engineering components. Here, the analysis of the plastic deformation of granular packings is of fundamental importance to the development of computer simulation models for industrial forming processes. Powders can be idealized by packing discrete particles, where each particle is a sphere meshed with finite elements. During pressing, particles are deformed by elastic-plastic hardening where friction is present at each contact. The pressing of an isolated particle followed by a body centered cubic packing was compared with numerical prediction and experimental data. The analysis was focused on the interaction between particles and the global response expressed in force-displacement curve during compaction. The accuracy of the numerical models was also analyzed for high relative densities up to 0.95.