Importance of Tool Configuration in Incremental Sheet Metal Forming of Difficult to Form Materials Using Electro-Plasticity

Titanium alloys possess low formability and high flows stresses and are difficult to form without using thermal aid to reduce the flow stress. It has been observed that high density electric pulse aide plastic deformation through electron-dislocation interaction and this phenomenon is termed as electro-plasticity where the reduction in flow stress is not due to resistive heating. Present work makes use of high density DC pulses to deform a Ti alloy using incremental sheet metal forming (ISMF) to emphasize the importance of tool configuration to minimize the resistive heating. Results indicate that the tool configuration plays a significant role to reduce the effect of resistive heating and to enhance effectiveness of electro-plastic effect