Microstructure, texture and grain boundaries character distribution evolution of ferritic stainless steel during rolling process

In order to better understand the texture, microstructure and grain boundaries character distribution evolution of ferritic stainless steel, the texture, microstructure and grain boundaries character distribution of ferritic stainless steel (hot rolled sheet, cold rolled sheet and annealing sheet) with 11 wt%Cr content were studied using X-ray diffraction and electron back scattered diffraction technique. The texture of the hot and cold rolled sheets has a through-thickness texture gradient. In the center layer of the hot and cold rolling sheet, α-fiber texture was observed which was attributed to ideal plane strain deformation. Close to the surface a Gross orientation was detected which was attributed to shear deformation. During annealing, the γ-fiber was formed attributed to recrystallization process. The microstructure of the hot and cold rolled sheets was non-homogeneous through the sheet thickness, while, the microstructure of annealing sheets was homogeneous through the sheet thickness. Grain boundaries character distribution results show that there are many low angle grain boundaries in hot and cold rolled sheets and many high angle grain boundaries and coincidence site lattice after annealing. The above results indicated that the changes in texture are closely related to the grain boundaries type.