Abstract
Conventional methods for processing and shaping plastics parts (mold injection, thermoforming, extrusion etc) require heating (melting) process in which plastics material is soften or liquefied firstly and then imparted by using different dies and techniques. However, plastics material could be formed without any heating and for that purpose a few non-conventional procedures have been developed. An alternative to conventional shaping of plastic parts offers metal forming processes and cold forming technique.In this paper results of theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation of cold forming of plastics are present. Traditional metal forming processes such as upsetting and backward extrusion were applied for shaping billets made from HDPE and PA. Both processes are simulated by FEM and Simufact.Forging 8.1 program package. Numerically predicted load-stroke diagrams are compared to those experimentally recorded. All necessary material data and process parameters were determined according to the methodology which is used in metal forming processes. Keywords: thermoplastics, cold forming, FEM