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. Powders can be idealized by packing discrete particles, where each particle is a sphere meshed with finite elements. The pressing of a body centered cubic packing was compared with numerical prediction and experimental data. The global response was expressed in force-displacement curve, and the accuracy of the numerical models analyzed for high relative densities up to 0.95.