Electrically assisted micro-rolling process of surface texture on T2 copper sheets

Electrically assisted (EA) forming is a promising process due to its advantages, such as reducing forming load and increasing formability. In this study, the EA micro-rolling process was used to form surface texture on T2 copper sheets. Compared with the traditional rolling process, the EA one significantly increases the feature height of texture, improves the flatness of the rolled strip, and relieves the surface cracks due to the action of the current. These might be attributed to the electron wind theory and microscale Joule heating effect. The effects of current for different grain sizes were not identical. High voltage was demanded to significantly increase feature height for coarse grains in comparison with that for fine grains. Moreover, the surface quality for fine grains was better than that for coarse grains. The high-quality surface texturing strip was manufactured by EA rolling process using annealed specimen. This study proves that forming quality for the surface texturing strip can be improved by adopting appropriate electrical parameters; EA micro-rolling process seems a prospective forming method with surface texture.