A review on electric pulse aided plastic deformation

A Subrahmanyam1, K Praveen1, Rahul Verma2, N Venkata Reddy1*

1
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India
2
Research & Development, Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, India

Abstract: The concept of Electric Pulse Aided Deformation (EPAD) is gaining attention of researchers
in recent years. Usage of electric pulses during plastic deformation, has two effects: One is a direct
effect, where the flow of electrons will accelerate the motion of dislocations by transfer of momentum
thus making plastic deformation of materials easy. This effect is known as “Electro-plastic effect”.
Second is an indirect effect, where the passing of electric current through a conductor will rise the
temperature of the conductor because of “Joule heating”. Advantages of passing an electric current
through a material under deformation include: Flow stress reduction, decrease in elastic recovery and
enhancement of formability for difficult to form materials. Studies have shown that applying very high
density electric pulses for very short duration during conventional processing will result in unique
microstructure changes which otherwise obtainable through severe plastic deformation processes. This
paper presents a brief summary of experimental observations, modelling approaches and resulting
microstructural aspects of EPAD. In addition, this article presents some of the attempts made to use
electro-plasticity in metal forming processes.

1. INTRODUCTION:
Development of advanced materials for various applications in turn initiates the development of
innovative manufacturing techniques to process them. Materials like Advanced High Strength Steels
(AHSS), Titanium alloys are difficult to process because of their high strength. Electric Pulse Aided
Deformation (EPAD) is a hybrid technique to process high strength and difficult to process materials,
where electricity assists the conventional manufacturing process. There are several names for EPAD
like Electrically Assisted Manufacturing (EAM) (Tran et. Al [1], Ruszkiewicz et. Al [2]) Electro-Plastic
Manufacturing Processing (EPMP) (Guan et. Al [3]), Electrically Processing of Materials (EPM)
(Bhadeshia [4]). EPAD covers broad range of manufacturing processes like Rolling, Wire drawing,
Machining, Sintering, Joining and Sheet forming processes. Majority of EPAD research is focused on
metal forming processes. In Electric Pulse Aided Forming (EPAF) Processes, additionally, there is a
supply of electric current to the work piece material during deformation.
It has been experimentally observed that application of electric current while deforming a material
reduces the forming forces. Application of electric current through a metal causes two effects. First is a
direct effect where the moving electrons accelerate the motion of dislocations, thus making the plastic
deformation easier. This is known as “electro-plastic effect”. The other effect is “joule heating”, which
is a consequence of passing electric current through a conductor. Joule heating rises the temperature of
metal. Direct current has much more significant effect than that of alternating current. Fig. 1 shows
schematic diagram of EPAD process and its causes and effects.
In addition to the electro-plastic effect and Joule heating, there are two minor effects of passing
electric current through a conductor namely skin and pinch effects. Accumulation of electric current
near the surface of the conductor when high frequency current is applied to the electric conductor is
known as skin effect [20]. The parameter used to quantify skin effect is “skin depth”, which is defined
as the distance at which current density value decreases to 1/e times of its original value. Skin depth is
expressed as

𝜋𝑓µ −1/2
𝛿=( ) (1)
𝜌
where f = Frequency of the pulse, µ = Permeability of specimen and ρ = Resistivity of specimen

*N Venkata Reddy E-mail: nvr@iith.ac.in, telephone: 04023017084

 Fig. 1 Illustration of EPAD and causes and effects of EPAD

If the skin depth calculated from the above expression is greater than the specimen thickness, then
it can be assumed that current is uniformly distributed throughout the specimen and there is no skin
effect. But if the skin depth is less than the specimen thickness, then it leads to more softening at the
surface than in core. Application of high current pulse through an electric conductor results in high
intensity magnetic field and in turn creates pressure. This pressure produces radial compressive stresses
and in turn decreases the axial stress of specimen under plastic deformation and is known as pinch effect
[20].
In 1967, Kravchenko [5] proposed a theoretical framework stating that moving dislocations in metal
can be accelerated or decelerated by the motion of free electrons depending on their relative velocities.
If the drift velocity of electrons is more than the dislocation velocity, then dislocations will be
accelerated and vice versa and this phenomenon is known as “Electron Facilitated Dislocation Motion”.
It is also reported that significant portion of the energy transmitted to the material by moving electrons
is resulted in the form of joule heating. In 1969, Troitskii et al. [6] for the first time conducted the
experiments on different materials, namely single crystal pure zinc, single crystal zinc doped with
cadmium and polycrystalline Zinc, Lead, Cadmium, Stannum and Indium with assistance of DC electric
pulses. They have conducted tensile tests by applying short duration of 100 µs electric pulses with
current densities of the order of 103 A/mm2. They found that there is an instantaneous drop in load
whenever electric pulse is supplied. The maximum load drop of 8% occurred for Indium whereas
maximum temperature rise didn’t exceed 12 – 16℃. They attributed this phenomenon to drag like
influence of moving electrons on mobile dislocations. They called this phenomenon as “Electro-Plastic
Effect (EPE)”
Sprecher et al. [7] reviewed the theories of Kravchenko [5], Klimov et al. [8] and Roschupkin et al.
[9] and concluded that the force experienced by dislocations (“electron wind force”) is proportional to
the difference between the drift velocity of electrons (ve) and dislocation velocity (vd).

(𝑓/𝑙) = 𝜏𝑏 = 𝐵𝑒 𝑣𝑑
(2)
where 𝑓/𝑙 is the force per unit length acting on dislocation, 𝜏 is the resolved shear stress, 𝑏 is the
Burgers vector, 𝐵𝑒 is the electron drag coefficient and 𝑣𝑑 is the velocity of dislocation or dislocations.
Many researchers have exploited electro-plasticity to gain advantage during conventional forming
processes and their details are reported in this paper.

2. EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS:
Many researchers [10-19] have conducted electric pulse aided tensile testing and observed that,
there is instantaneous drop in the flow stress on application of electric pulse. It is reported by almost
everyone that that the drop in flow stress is proportional to current density (Fig. 2).
 Fig. 2 Effect of current pulses on the true stress-true strain curve (modified and redrawn from Ref. 10)

Jun Ni et al. [13] studied the effect of pulsed DC on TRIP 780/800 steel using current density of
29.7 A/mm2 and pulse duration of 1 s. At the above mentioned conditions, reduction in flow stress is
reported as 265 MPa and a temperature rise of 61℃. In addition, it was reported that there exists a
threshold current density value which is (in between 7.4 A/mm2 and 11.4 A/mm2) required to observe
electroplastic effect. Varma et al. [11] studied electroplastic effect in both polycrystalline and single
crystal aluminium and reported that stress drop in single crystal aluminium is three times more than that
of the polycrystalline one. Okazaki et al. [20] performed DC pulse aided tensile tests on titanium to
investigate the contribution of skin, pinch and heating effects on stress drop. They reported that skin and
pinch effects are negligible and heating effect contributes 50 – 70 % of total stress drop and remaining
component of stress drop can be attributed to “electro-plastic effect”.
Various researchers [21-24] have investigated the effect of very high current density (>10 kA/mm2)
during deformation of metals and found the microstructural changes like grain refinement, uniform grain
size distribution, decrease in dislocation density, formation of nano structured phases, recrystallization
and grain growth. Kim et al. [16] observed recrystallization and grain growth during electric pulse aided
tensile test of Al 5052-H32. Maximum temperature observed is 218 ℃, which is well below the
annealing temperature (335 – 405 ℃) for the given alloy.
Ross et al. [25] investigated the effect of DC current on tensile and compressive behaviour of Ti-
6Al-4V and reported that ductility increases significantly in compression. Jiang et al. [26] conducted
Thermal Assisted Tension (TAT) test and Electric Assisted Tension (EAT) test on pure copper and SS
304, to separate the influence of temperature from electro-plastic effect on flow stress and ductility.
They first conducted EAT and measured temperature rise due to resistive heating and then conducted
TAT at that temperature and observed that electric current has 10 % more effect on flow stress and
ductility in case of copper than in case of SS304. They attributed this difference in response of two
materials (although the crystal structure of copper and austenite in SS 304 are FCC are same) to alloy
elements present in SS 304.

3. MODELING FLOW STRESS REDUCTION:

Some researchers [27, 12, 18, 30, 17] have made attempts to model the reduction in flow stress
occurring during plastic deformation because of application of electric pulses. Bilyk et al. [27], Gallo et
al. [12] have used thermo visco-plastic model where flow stress is a function of applied strain, strain
rate and temperature, to predict the reduction in flow stresses. Magargee et al. [31] have used Johnson
Cook [28] and Modified Hollomon [29] model to predict the reduction in flow stresses. There are few
attempts (Kronenberger et al. [30], Hariharan et al. [17]) to decoupling thermal effect from electrical
effect.
Bilyk et al. [26] explained the instantaneous drop of flow stress with the application of electric
pulse using continuum approach without invoking the concept of electro-plasticity. Maxwell’s equations
are solved along with equilibrium and continuity equations are. Thermo-visco-plastic model was used
for modelling the material response. Their predictions are in good agreement with the experimental
results of Okazaki et al. [10]. The temperature rise predicted by their model is slightly higher than
experimental results. Kronenberger et al. [30] developed thermo-mechanical model for upsetting process
using FEA. First, temperature distribution is obtained by assuming resistive heating. Next, stress
analysis is carried out by using the known thermal field. Stress strain curve obtained using this approach
has considerable deviation with experimental results (both resistive heating and electro-plastic effects
included). Based on this observation, it was concluded that there is electro-plastic effect. Gallo et al.
[12] conducted single pulse experiments on Al 6061-T6, Cu-102 and modelled the stress drop using
visco-plastic model and observed that complete recovery took place if electric pulse is applied in the
elastic range and there is accumulation of plastic strain if it is applied in the plastic region. Magargee et
al. [31] modelled the response of CP Titanium subjected to constant DC current using both Johnson
Cook model [28] and Modified Hollomon model [29]. In Johnson cook model flow stress is modelled
as a function of applied strain, strain rate and temperature, whereas Modified Hollomon model is a
temperature dependent power law hardening model in which the strength coefficient is taken as a
function of temperature. Both models predict the stresses with a deviation less than 10% compared to
experimental results. Hariharan et al. [17] have used coupled electro-thermo-mechanical FE model to
decouple thermal and electrical effects in tensile testing of Al-5052. Unlike earlier studies where thermal
and mechanical analysis were done separately, here they have done coupled analysis where joule heating
resulting from electric current, corresponding temperature rise and its effect on flow stress reduction are
modelled in a single analysis. They assumed that 60 % of electrical energy is converted to heat. They
reported that thermal expansion significantly contributes to stress reduction. Lee et al. [18] performed
three-stage constitutive analysis of the single DC pulse experiments on CP Titanium. Their model
includes non-uniform thermal expansion, plastic softening and Dynamic Strain Aging (DSA). At first,
they have modelled response of material using thermo elastic model considering non-uniform thermal
expansion under fixed grip condition. Next, stress drop in the plastic region using Johnson Cook [27]
model is modelled and reported that inclusion of DSA in the constitutive model improves the prediction
of stress reduction by reducing the percentage error from 15% to 3.6% at current density of 30 A/mm2.

4. APPLICATIONS TO OTHER MANUFACTURING PROCESSES:

Researchers have attempted to use the effect of electro-plasticity to exploit its advantages in various
metal forming processes. Some of the attempts made are presented below.
Attempts [32-34] made to study the effect of electric current on wire drawing process revealed that
the use of electric pulses during wire drawing reduced the drawing force by 20- 50 % and increased the
percentage elongation drastically. It was also reported that surface quality of wires improved because of
application of electric pulses. Recently, Egea et al. [35] have performed electric assisted wire drawing
on 308L stainless steel wires and reported that there is 10 % decrease in drawing force in electric assisted
wire drawing (184. 6 A/mm2) compared to conventional wire drawing process and reported that there is
a decrease in hardness of 14 Vickers at surface and 54 Vickers at center of wire compared to
conventional wire drawing. Reduction in hardness in electric assisted wire drawing is attributed to skin
effect and difference in temperature due to change in friction between die and work piece.
Electric pulse assisted rolling [36-37] experiments showed that roll separating force reduced up to
8% when electric pulses applied. Salandro et al. [38] conducted electric pulse aided bending experiments
on SS304 and concluded that both bending force and spring back reduced compared to conventional
bending process. Maximum reduction in spring back is more than 70% at current density of 30 A/mm2.
Kim et al. [39] performed electric assisted blanking on ultra-high strength steel (complex phase steel
with tensile strength of 1.2 GPa) in two approaches namely (Electric Assisted (EA) blanking) and
(Resistance Heating (RH) blanking) by maintaining same current density for constant time and observed
20% more load reduction in EA than RH.
Fan et al. [40] was first to use DC for localised resistive heating at tool-sheet interface in single
point incremental forming (SPIF) of magnesium (AZ31) and reported that formability has increased
from 44o to 63o with increase in current value from 300 A to 500 A. Adams and Jeswiet [42] carried out
work similar to Fan et al. [40] on Al-6061-T6 and reported that formability increased from 59o to 69o
when 60 A/mm2 current density is used. Ashgar et al. [41] studied the effect of EPAD on deformation
behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V in Double Sided Incremental Forming (DSIF) and concluded that current
carrying length should be as minimum as possible to reduce joule heating and to increase electro-
plasticity effect. In addition, increase in formability, geometrical accuracy and reduction in forming
forces, residual stresses are observed. Note that the maximum temperature reported by them is only 50
℃. Xu et al. [43] carried out work similar to that of Ashgar et al. [41] on AZ31 and reported that
geometrical accuracy improved because of relieving in residual stresses whereas surface finish has
deteriorated i.e., increased from 0.721 µm to 1.595 µm.
 Fig. 3 Schematics of Electric Pulse Aided (a) Rolling (b) Wire drawing (c) Incremental forming
(Above figures are modified and redrawn from Ref. 36, 35, 41)

5. CONCLUSIONS:
Electric Pulse Aided Deformation (EPAD) has a great potential to act as an alternative method to
process advanced materials by reducing forming forces, residual stresses and spring back and enhancing
ductility and part accuracy. In addition, EPAD results in unique microstructural changes like formation
of nanostructured phases, grain refinement and uniform grain size distribution which are difficult to
achieve by other processes like Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD).

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Authors would like to thank MHRD (GoI), DHI (GoI) and TATA STEEL for the financial
support under Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY).

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