Effect of the initial grain size on the structural inhomogeneity and texture formation upon cold rolling and annealing of the Fe-3% Si alloy

Changes in the microstructure and global and local textures upon cold rolling with a reduction of 70% and subsequent recrystallization were studied in the Fe-3% Si alloy with various average initial grain sizes (from 660 to 19 mum). As the initial grain size decreases, deformation bands in the deformed structure disappear and the density of shear bands decreases. This is reflected in the texture features observed upon alloy treatment: after cold rolling, the volume fraction of the {111}<112> component decreases and that of the {111}<110> component increases. In the recrystallized state, the {111}<112> component is much greater and the {110}<001> component is weaker in the initially fine-grained samples than in a coarse-grained sample. In coarse grains with the initial {110}<001> orientation, substructure regions with {310}-{210}<001> orientations were revealed by the ACOM method after rolling; upon annealing with slow heating, these regions transform into recrystallization centers. For the explanation of the results of the investigation, the concept of the corrugation of metallic layers in the deformation zone under constrained conditions of forming was employed.