Recrystallization kinetics and texture evolution in a Nb-stabilized ferritic stainless steel

What is it about?

Hot-rolled Nb-stabilized ferritic stainless steel samples were produced with and without annealing. The samples were then cold rolled and isothermally annealed at 650–1000 °C for 10–14,400 s. The recrystallized volume fraction was quantified using the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov model and by measuring the microhardness of samples annealed for various duration. The texture evolution was analyzed using electron backscatter diffraction.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The intensity of the {111}<121> and {111}<011> components of the γ-fiber increased and the deformation texture seen in the α-fiber decreased with increasing annealing time. The intensity of the rotated-cube component decreased with increasing annealing time. The intensity distributions of the early nucleation and full recrystallization textures were noticeably different. The {554}<225> texture component appeared during the late stages of recrystallization. The final annealing led to a grain refinement with a final average grain diameter of 8 µm.