EBSD study of microstructure evolution of ferritic stainless steel during cold rolling and annealing

The microstructure and texture of ferritic stainless steels (FSSs), formed during cold rolling and annealing processes, determine the mechanical properties of final sheet, especially the deep drawing formability. In this work, aNb, Ti stabilized17%Cr FSS was cold rolled with the reductions of 20%~70% and annealed for periods at 700°C. EBSD technique was used to characterize the microstructure evolution and inhomogeneous deformation strain distribution of the sheet during cold rolling. Partially annealed sheets were also analyzed to observe the nucleation and growth of recrystallized grains. Special attentions were paid on the crystal orientation of the deformed grains and recrystallzed grains. The results infer that in-grain shear band was formed in the cold rolled sample with the reduction higher than 30%, associated with the formation of high deformation strains. And the recrystallized grains prefer to form at some unique grain boundaries and in-grain shear bands. The orientations of recrystallized grains relates to the deformed grains