Effect of annealing on the microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of severely deformed interstitial free steel

Ti-stabilised interstitial free (IF) steel initially subjected to 8 passes, route BC equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) was further cold rolled (CR) at room temperature to 95% thickness reduction. Both samples were isothermally annealed at 710 °C following which their microstructures and micro-textures were compared via electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD). The mechanical properties first obtained by shear punch testing (SPT) were later corroborated by uniaxial tensile tests. In the case of the ECAP material, continuous recrystallisation is followed by abnormal growth at prolonged annealing times with minor increases in high angle boundary (HAGB) fraction. On the other hand, the additionally CR material shows continuous recrystallisation accompanied by a reduction in the HAGB fraction. After 15 s annealing, the ECAP and CR samples exhibit a good strength-ductility balance; which corresponds to ~52% and ~67% softening, respectively.