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

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.