Several Factors Affecting the Electroplastic Effect During an Electrically-Assisted Forming Process

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley A. Salandro ◽  
Cristina J. Bunget ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
Cold Work ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Electroplastic Effect ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Forming Load ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Grade 5 ◽  
Electrically Assisted Manufacturing

Recent development of electrically-assisted manufacturing (EAM) processes proved the advantages of using the electric current, mainly related with the decrease in the mechanical forming load and improvement in the formability. From EAM experiments, it has been determined that a portion of the applied electrical power contributes toward these forming benefits and the rest is dissipated into heat, defined as the electroplastic effect. The objective of this work is to experimentally investigate several factors that affect the electroplastic effect and the efficiency of the applied electricity. Specifically, the effects of various levels of cold work and contact force are explored on both Grade 2 and Grade 5 Titanium alloys. Thermal and mechanical data prove that these factors notably affect the efficiency of the applied electricity during an electrically-assisted forming (EAF) process.

Thermo-Mechanical Investigations of the Electroplastic Effect

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley A. Salandro ◽  
Cristina Bunget ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Cold Work ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Thermal Softening ◽  
Manufacturing Processes ◽  
Electroplastic Effect ◽  
Forming Load ◽  
Commercially Pure ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Grade 5 ◽  
Electrically Assisted Manufacturing

Recent development of Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing processes proved the advantages of using the electric current, mainly related with the decrease in the mechanical forming load and improvement in the formability when electrically-assisted forming of metals. The reduction of forming load was formulated previously assuming that a part of the electrical energy input is dissipated into heat, thus producing thermal softening of the material, while the remaining component directly aids the plastic deformation. The fraction of electrical energy applied that assists the deformation process compared to the total amount of electrical energy is given by the electroplastic effect coefficient. The objective of the current research is to investigate the complex effect of the electricity applied during deformation, and to establish a methodology for quantifying the electroplastic effect coefficient. Temperature behavior is observed for varying levels of deformation and previous cold work. Results are used to refine the understanding of the electroplastic effect coefficient, and a new relationship, in the form of a power law, is derived. This model is validated under independent experiments in Grade 2 (commercially pure) and Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) titanium.

Sensitivities When Modeling Electrically-Assisted Forming

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina J. Bunget ◽  
Wesley A. Salandro ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Modeling And Analysis ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Stainless Steel 304 ◽  
Analysis Strategy ◽  
Electrically Assisted Manufacturing

Recent research by the authors has resulted in the conception of several methods of accounting for direct electrical effects during an Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing (EAM) process, where electricity is applied to a conductive workpiece to enhance its formability characteristics. The modeling and analysis strategy accounts for both mechanical effects and heat transfer effects due to the applied electrical power. This work presents a sensitivity analysis and explanation of several key material and process inputs during an Electrically-Assisted Forming (EAF) test on Stainless Steel 304 and Titanium Grades 2 and 5 specimens. First, the effect that the specific heat (Cp) value has on the model will be discussed and compared with another lightweight material. Second, the significance of all three heat transfer modes (conduction, convection, and radiation) will be noted, and any possible simplifications to the existing heat transfer model will be highlighted. Third, the general electroplastic effect coefficient (EEC) profile shape for the Stainless Steel 304 material will be compared to that of Titanium alloys. Fourth, a frequency analysis will be done on the data taken during the experiments, by way of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and the variation of frequency response with the electric input is studied. Overall, this work provides insight into several factors affecting a material’s EEC profile, and also compares resulting EEC profiles of various materials.

A Review of Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing With Emphasis on Modeling and Understanding of the Electroplastic Effect

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandt J. Ruszkiewicz ◽  
Tyler Grimm ◽  
Ihab Ragai ◽  
Laine Mears ◽  
John T. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Economy ◽  
Elastic Recovery ◽  
Fuel Efficiency ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Carbon Steels ◽  
Metallic Materials ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Electroplastic Effect ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Electrically Assisted Manufacturing

Increasingly strict fuel efficiency standards have driven the aerospace and automotive industries to improve the fuel economy of their fleets. A key method for feasibly improving the fuel economy is by decreasing the weight, which requires the introduction of materials with high strength to weight ratios into airplane and vehicle designs. Many of these materials are not as formable or machinable as conventional low carbon steels, making production difficult when using traditional forming and machining strategies and capital. Electrical augmentation offers a potential solution to this dilemma through enhancing process capabilities and allowing for continued use of existing equipment. The use of electricity to aid in deformation of metallic materials is termed as electrically assisted manufacturing (EAM). The direct effect of electricity on the deformation of metallic materials is termed as electroplastic effect. This paper presents a summary of the current state-of-the-art in using electric current to augment existing manufacturing processes for processing of higher-strength materials. Advantages of this process include flow stress and forming force reduction, increased formability, decreased elastic recovery, fracture mode transformation from brittle to ductile, decreased overall process energy, and decreased cutting forces in machining. There is currently a lack of agreement as to the underlying mechanisms of the electroplastic effect. Therefore, this paper presents the four main existing theories and the experimental understanding of these theories, along with modeling approaches for understanding and predicting the electroplastic effect.

Springback Evaluation of 304 Stainless Steel in an Electrically Assisted Air Bending Operation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelrahim Khal ◽  
Brandt J. Ruszkiewicz ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
General Term ◽  
Bending Test ◽  
304 Stainless Steel ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Air Bending ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Microstructural Evaluation

Driven by the automotive industry’s drive towards lightweighting, electrically assisted forming (EAF) is one of the most rapidly growing research fields in bulk deformation, and is classified under the general term “Electrically-Assisted Manufacturing (EAM)”. In EAF electric current (continuous or intermittent) is applied to a metallic sheet during the forming process, leading to numerous advantageous effects that have been studied and proven by several research groups and for different structural metals, such as reduced forming load and flow stress, increased formability, and reduction (or even elimination) of springback. Electrically-assisted bending (EAB) is a recent evolution of EAF technique, with the aim of capitalizing on the aforementioned advantages of EAF technique. In this work the effects of the EAB process on the final springback in an air bending test are identified, with the metal sheet being bent under different electrical field conditions. In addition, a comparison between the effects of applying the current during forming versus post forming are investigated. It was found that in general, higher current density (amount of current through cross sectional area of specimen (A/mm2), more frequent pulse period, and longer pulse duration all resulted in a greater degree of springback reduction. A microstructural evaluation showed no change in grain size in the presence of electric current.

Alternative Control of an Electrically Assisted Tensile Forming Process Using Current Modulation

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Jones ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
Current Flow ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Material Strength ◽  
Alternative Control ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Control Material ◽  
Model Based Control ◽  
Electrically Assisted

Electrically assisted forming is a technique whereby metal is deformed while simultaneously undergoing electric current flow. Using this process, electric current level becomes a new degree of freedom for process control. In this work, we present some alternative control architectures allowing for new avenues of control using such a process. The primary findings are architectures to allow for forming at constant force and forming at constant stress levels by modulating electric current to directly control material strength. These are demonstrated in a tensile forming operation, and found to produce the desired results. Combining these control approaches with previous and contemporary efforts in modeling of the process physics will allow for system identification of material response properties and model-based control of difficult-to-observe process parameters such as real time temperature gradients.

Evaluation of Uniaxial Tensile Behavior under Pulsed Current for Electrically Assisted Warm Forming of Light Weight Alloys

2017 ◽  
Vol 744 ◽  
pp. 254-258
Author(s):  
Jung Han Song ◽  
Injea Jang ◽  
Suh Yun Gwak ◽  
Jun Ho Bang ◽  
Yong Bae Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
Test System ◽  
Warm Forming ◽  
Uniaxial Tensile ◽  
Light Weight ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Uniaxial Test ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Deep Drawing Test

In this study, the electric current effects in the deformation of light weight alloys are investigated to improve the formability. To begin with, a test system is built up to carry out the tensile test with heavy electric current flowing through the specimen. The evolutions of the flow stresses and failure elongations were obtained using this test system. The thermal and athermal effect such as electro-plastic effect of metallic materials induced by high density current make significant reduction of the flow stress, which is beneficial to the forming process of less formable metal. From the uniaxial test results, pulse current-assisted deep drawing test were conducted. The experimental results demonstrate that electrically assisted warm forming provides lower energy consumption and higher efficiency.

Investigation of Deformation Behavior of SS304 and Pure Copper Subjected to Electrically Assisted Forming Process

2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianhao Jiang ◽  
Linfa Peng ◽  
Peiyun Yi ◽  
Xinmin Lai
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Temperature ◽  
Flow Stress ◽  
Constitutive Model ◽  
Electric Current ◽  
Deformation Behavior ◽  
Pure Copper ◽  
Annihilation Process ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Dislocation Movement

Both electrically assisted tension (EAT) and thermally assisted tension (TAT) tests were performed on SS304 and pure copper to decouple the influence of elevated temperature from electric current on flow stress and ductility. It is found that the reduction on flow stress and ductility of SS304 are more dependent on the elevated temperature than electric current, but electric current has a stronger effect by 10% on reducing flow stress and ductility of pure copper than the elevated temperature does. As the flow stress and ductility of two metals are related to the dislocation evolution, a constitutive model considering both storage and annihilation process of dislocation was established to describe the effect of electric current and temperature on dislocation movement. It is found that electric current accelerated the annihilation process of dislocation in pure copper up to 20% in EAT compared with that in TAT, but such phenomenon was rarely observed in SS304. Furthermore, attempts have also been made to distinguish the influence of elevated temperature with that of electric current on microstructure evolution and it is also found that the formation of [111] crystals in pure copper is nearly 10% less in EAT than that in TAT.

Alternative Control of an Electrically-Assisted Tensile Forming Process Using Current Modulation

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Jones ◽  
Laine Mears
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
Current Flow ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Material Strength ◽  
Alternative Control ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Control Material ◽  
Model Based Control ◽  
Electrically Assisted

Electrically-assisted forming is a technique whereby metal is deformed while simultaneously undergoing electric current flow. Using this process, electric current level becomes a new degree of freedom for process control. In this work we present some alternative control architectures allowing for new avenues of control using such a process. The primary findings are architectures to allow for forming at constant force and forming at constant stress levels by modulating electric current to directly control material strength. These are demonstrated in a tensile forming operation, and found to produce the desired results. Combining these control approaches with previous and contemporary efforts in modeling of the process physics will allow for system identification of material response properties and model-based control of difficult-to-observe process parameters such as real time temperature gradients.

Experimental Study on Electroplastic Effect in AISI 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel

2015 ◽  
Vol 792 ◽  
pp. 568-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Breda ◽  
Francesco Michieletto ◽  
Elizaveta Beridze ◽  
Claudio Gennari
Keyword(s):  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Austenitic Stainless Steel ◽  
Electric Current ◽  
Uniaxial Tensile ◽  
Uniaxial Tensile Test ◽  
Aisi 316L ◽  
Flow Properties ◽  
Electroplastic Effect ◽  
316L Austenitic Stainless Steel ◽  
Electrically Assisted Manufacturing

Electrically Assisted Manufacturing (EAM) is a recently developed method for materials forming based on the Electro-Plastic Effect (EPE) induced by electric current on the flow properties of the material and enhancing their workability. In this technique, the concept of dislocations/electrons interaction and the localized resistive heating provided by electric current were found to be the main responsible for the observed increase in materials formability. However, the joule heating may hinder the induced EPE, since heat and electricity are contemporarily both present, and separation between these two contributions is mandatory to better understand the solely effect of electricity on plastic flow. The present experimental work on an AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel is aimed to study EPE by separating the effects of current from those of heating during EAM uniaxial tensile test, in order to ascribe the relative contributions.

Analysis of the Electric and Thermal Effects on Mechanical Behavior of SS304 Subjected to Electrically Assisted Forming Process

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianhao Jiang ◽  
Linfa Peng ◽  
Peiyun Yi ◽  
Xinmin Lai
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Effect ◽  
Electric Current ◽  
Yield Stress ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Activation Effect ◽  
Initial Yield Stress ◽  
Initial Yield ◽  
Electrically Assisted ◽  
Tension Tests

Significant improvements in deformation resistance and ductility of metals are observed in the electrically assisted forming (EAF) process. Both electroplastic effect (EPE) induced by electric current and thermal effect associated with Joule heating have been proposed to explain the phenomenon. However, there are still arguments in the contribution of the EPE in EAF process. In this paper, both electrically assisted tension tests (EAT) and thermally assisted tension tests (TAT) were conducted on SS304 specimens at the same temperature. The existence of EPE is investigated, and the contribution of EPE is also distinguished with thermal effect numerically by considering the initial yield stress, dislocation hardening, and martensite phase transformation. It is shown when the temperature is around 34 °C, the electric current of 50 A/mm2 in EAT induces additional stress reduction of 16% in the short-range internal stress (effective stress) involved in the initial yield stress and volume reduction of 45.2% in martensite formation compared with results in TAT. However, the effect is not obvious for the cases of 100 A/mm2 and 150 A/mm2 when the temperature is above 100 °C. By comparing the storage coefficient and recovery coefficient of dislocation in EAT and TAT, it indicates that electric current has no additional activation effect on dislocation movement of SS304.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document