Numerical study on combined electropulsing and ultrasonic surface impact treatments of “Ti-6Al-4V + TiC” composite

Abstract

Ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) is intended for improving surface properties of metals and alloys due to the combined structure modification. Application of electrical pulses (electropulsing—EP) combined with ultrasonic surface straining allows to increase the depth of the modified surface layer and to improve physical-mechanical properties of alloys under the treatment. A clear explanation of this effect has not been developed yet. The paper deals with modeling the process of combined mechanical-electrophysical treatment (UIT + EP) of titanium alloy composite “Ti-6Al-4V + TiC”. Ultrasonic impact treatment was modeled by applying pulsed mechanical loads with the use of a hard–alloy striker. It is shown that the complementary electric current exposure made it possible to enhance the effect of ultrasonic impact treatment. In so doing, the strain in local treated regions was enlarged. It was revealed that the application of the combined treatment made it possible to locally modify effective mechanical properties, in particular, an elastic modulus was decreased, while tensile strength and the elongation at break were enlarged.