Electro-thermo-mechanical coupling analysis of deep drawing with resistance heating for aluminum matrix composites sheet

Recently, electro-plastic forming to be a focus of attention in materials hot processing research area, because it is a sort of energy-saving, high efficient and green manufacturing technology. An electro-thermo-mechanical model can be adopted to carry out the sequence simulation of aluminum matrix composites sheet deep drawing via electro-thermal coupling and thermal-mechanical coupling method. The first step of process is resistance heating of sheet, then turn off the power, and the second step is deep drawing. Temperature distribution of SiC_p/2024Al composite sheet by resistance heating and sheet deep drawing deformation were analyzed. During the simulation, effect of contact resistances, temperature coefficient of resistance for electrode material and SiC_p/2024Al composite on temperature distribution were integrally considered. The simulation results demonstrate that Sic_p/2024Al composite sheet can be rapidly heated to 400° in 30s using resistances heating and the sheet temperature can be controlled by adjusting the current density. Physical properties of the electrode materials can significantly affect the composite sheet temperature distribution. The temperature difference between the center and the side of the sheet is proportional to the thermal conductivity of the electrode, the principal cause of which is that the heat transfers from the sheet to the electrode. SiCp/2024Al thin-wall part can be intactly manufactured at strain rate of 0.08s ^-1 and the sheet thickness thinning rate is limited within 20%, which corresponds well to the experimental result.