COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPLASTICITY IN COPPER AND ALUMINUM

The effect of electroplasticity (EE) is used to increase the deformability of metals and alloys, save the energy used to deform them, and reduce tool wear. Despite the practical importance of EE, there is no consensus in the literature on its physical nature, and further research is needed to elucidate it. In this work, the tensile deformation of aluminum and copper wires stimulated by the repetitive electric pulses is experimentally investigated. Copper and aluminum have low and high stacking fault energy, respectively, and it is interesting to compare the behavior of these metals during electrically assisted plastic deformation. Joule heat release is precisely controlled in the experiments. Both metals show qualitatively similar behavior, with the increment in plastic deformation decreasing with pulse number at fixed tensile stress. This result supports the dislocation mechanism of EE in these metals.