Strain Dependent Evolution of Microstructure and Texture During Cold Rolling of Ferritic Stainless Steel: Experiments...

In the present work, the microstructure and texture evolution of ferritic stainless steel during unidirectional cold rolling were investigated, and the Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) polycrystal model was used for the simulation of texture during cold rolling. Comparison of different interaction models was made to obtain a model that better reproduces the texture evolution of ferritic stainless steels. The as-received hot-rolled samples were unidirectionally cold rolled in a laboratory rolling mill, and the thickness was reduced by 30%, 60% and 80%. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used to observe the microstructure evolution and texture evolution, and micro-hardness was used to evaluate the work hardening of the sample. The important feature of the microstructure was the presence of shear bands (SBs), the frequency of which increased with the increase in cold-rolling reduction and was found to be orientation dependent. We found that the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density increased with cold-rolling reduction in accord with Ashby's theory of work hardening, and higher GND density accumulates near the grain boundary. The grain fragmentation, Goss texture distribution and orientation gradient were found to be orientation dependent. The cold-rolled texture was composed of strong α-fiber and weak γ-fiber. The relative plastic compliance of grain and the homogeneous effective medium (HEM) were explored. The tangent interaction model was found to match reasonably well with the experimental texture. This work has great significance for achieving online monitoring of the texture of ferritic stainless steel under different industrial production processes and enhancing the intelligence level of ferritic stainless steel production process.