Experimental validation study on principle of electric pulse-assisted cutting based on electroplastic effect and sliding electric contact

Electric pulse-assisted cutting (EPAC) technology can improve plastic deformation and severe frictional behavior of workpiece surface material, and enhances the machinability of the metals, but the principle of the EPAC technology is still unclear, which leads to the problem that the EPAC process of the metal materials has no theoretical support. This paper proposed the principle of the EPAC based on electroplastic effect and sliding electric contact theory, the experiment of electric pulse assisted turning of titanium alloy was carried out to verify the correctness of the principle. The results showed compared with conventional cutting, the frictional behavior of tool-chip interface was improved due to the sliding electric contact, resulting in a 49.05% reduction of tool wear, and workpiece surface adhering defect was greatly eliminated, workpiece surface roughness was reduced by 34.79%. The electroplastic effect could promote dislocation annihilation of the workpiece surface at deep depth, the tool mark defect of the workpiece surface was also greatly reduced, and strengthened layer was extremely deepened to 56.8 μm.