Abstract:This article investigates the effects of applying different frequencies of electric current during the tensile process of TC4 titanium alloy, a common aerospace material, to increase the material's flow stress and reduce the maximum yield strength during stretching. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the evolution of the material's microstructure after electrical treatment, as well as the fracture morphology of the samples. The results of tensile tests were combined to analyze the impact of the electrically-assisted forming process during stretching. The experimental results indicate that as the pulse current density increases, the content of the α phase significantly decreases, while the content of the β phase greatly increases, with grain size beginning to enlarge. During the cooling process, a small amount of fine needle-like α" phase is formed due to the martensitic transformation. With further increases in current density, the primary α phase completely disappears, the β phase grows further, and the transformed α" phase size increases. During the stretching process, the temperature of the sample rises sharply at the moment of applying the current, continues to rise as the stretching process proceeds, and the rate of temperature increase accelerates, reaching a peak at the moment of rupture. The peak temperature increases with the increase of current density and pulse frequency. As the current density rises, the flow stress of TC4 titanium alloy gradually decreases, and its plasticity improves. SEM and TEM experimental results show that with the increase of current density, the dimples in the tensile fracture of TC4 titanium alloy sheets significantly deepen, the micro fracture surface presents a honeycomb-like appearance, and tear ridges appear around the dimples, showing distinct characteristics of ductile fracture. Compared with high-temperature and room-temperature stretching, the dislocation density inside the material significantly decreases after electrically-assisted stretching, the dislocations are relatively straight, and some dislocations are orderly arranged in a certain direction, indicating the promoting effect of pulse current on dislocation movement.