Evolution of Through-Thickness Texture in Ultra Purified 17%Cr Ferritic Stainless Steels

 Texture inhomogeneity usually takes place in ferritic stainless steels due to the lack of phase transformation and recrystallization during hot strip rolling, which can deteriorate the formability of final sheets. In order to work out the way of weakening texture inhomogeneity, conventional hot rolling and warm rolling processes have been carried out with an ultra purified ferritic stainless steel. The results showed that the evolution of through-thickness texture is closely dependent on rolling process, especially for the texture in the center layer. For both conventional and warm rolling processes, shear texture components were formed in the surface layers after hot rolling and annealing; sharp α-fiber and weak γ-fiber with the major component at {111}<110> were developed in both cold rolled sheet surfaces, leading to the formation of inhomogeneous γ-fiber dominated by {111}<112> after recrystallization annealing. In the center layer of conventional rolled and annealed bands, strong α-fiber and weak γ-fiber textures were formed; the cold rolled textures were comprised of sharp α-fiber and weak γ-fiber with the major component at {111}<110>, and inhomogeneous γ-fiber dominated by {111}<112> was formed after recrystallization annealing. By contrast, in the centre layer of warm rolled bands, the texture was comprised of weak α-fiber and sharp γ-fiber, and γ-fiber became the only component after annealing. The cold rolled texture displayed a sharp γ-fiber with the major component at {111}<112> and the intensity of γ-fiber close to that of α-fiber, resulting in the formation of a nearly homogeneous γ-fiber recrystallization texture in the center layer of the final sheet.