“Target effect” of pulsed current on the texture evolution behaviour of Ni-based superalloy during electrically-assisted tension

Abstract Electrically-assisted manufacturing (EAM) has been proved to be very efficient in homogenizing the alloy with heterogeneous grain distribution due to the local Joule heating effect, which completely differs from the common heat treatment. However, the interaction between pulsed current and texture evolution during deformation have been rarely investigated even though texture is critical for the plastic behaviour of anisotropic material. Here, the effect of pulsed current on texture evolution behaviour has been studied by comparing the evolution behaviours of a Ni-based superalloy under electrically-assisted and quasi-static tension. The result showed that the evolution of easy-to-deform texture into hard one was promoted by the pulsed current, but the further enhancement of the hard-to-deform texture’s intensity was inhibited. This difference could be attributed to the more pronounced local Joule heating effect in the hard-to-deform grain due to larger lattice distance here, and then the softened hard-to-deform grain could rotate itself towards other orientations more easily. This is called “target effect” of pulsed current on the hard-to-deform texture in present work, which further indicates that EAM is effective in the control of homogeneous behaviour of anisotropic materials not only from the microstructure distribution but also from the mechanical property.