Electropulsing effects on mechanical and metallurgical behavior of AISI-SAE 4140 steel

Abstract

The electroplasticity phenomenon (EP) produces changes in the mechanical properties of a metal, due to the simultaneous application of mechanical stresses of compression, bending, etc., and high instantaneous current pulses. The changes produced on the plastic deformation rate by the EP are due to thermal effects (such as Joule effect) and other effects associated to the electric and magnetic fields. There are only a few studies that consider, as this paper does, the effects of electropulsing effect on tensile test processes in which the electron flow is esteemed as the main reason. In this paper, the results of a research on tensile test on specimen of AISI-SAE 4140, assisted by high-current-density electric pulses are presented. The aim is to evaluate the effect of these pulses on the microstructure and mechanical properties of metallic materials. The phase transformations and microstructural changes in the metallic specimens exposed to EP were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Diffraction Ray X (DRX) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Preliminary results show there are some differences in the material behaviour, between the specimens tensile tested with and without EP, such as: decreases values of yield and ultimate strength and XRD analyses attests to a slight displacement and intensity reduction of diffraction. Moreover, the application of current density in the order of 2.18 A/mm² is enough to produce changes in mechanical and metallographic properties of AISI/SAE 4140.