Correlation between Recrystallization Texture and Heterogeneities in Deformed Structure of an Electrical Steel by Electron Back-scatter Diffraction

The evolution of the crystallographic texture in lowcarbon steels from a deformed state to a full recrystallization (RX) state upon annealing is an issue with both academic and practical importance.1–4) Normally, the dominant components in the cold-rolled (CR) texture, {hkl}<110> , vanish after RX. Conversely, the RX texture, consisting of varying intensities of {001}, {111} and {011}<100> components, develops during annealing. The recrystallized grains are evolved from the CR structure. Though, experimental results indicated that the dominant components in the RX texture were present in rather low populations in the CR structure.3,4) Considering the fact that profoundly differences of the RX textures were observed for many steels regardless their CR textures were rather similar, the success of a subgrain to develop into an RX grain must depend on the heterogeneities in the deformation microstructure. It is therefore valuable to characterize the structural heterogeneities and identify the potential subgrains, which can develop into RX nuclei, in the CR structure. The recrystallized nuclei were found to evolve from fast growing subgrains surrounded by high angle boundaries (HABs).5,6) It is believed that a successful nucleation event requires the formation of mobile HABs that can sweep the surrounding deformed matrix. However, for a subgrain to become a growing new grain, possession of HABs is a necCorrelation between Recrystallization Texture and Heterogeneities in Deformed Structure of an Electrical Steel by Electron Back-scatter Diffraction