EFFECT OF COLD ROLLING PROCESS ON TEXTURE EVOLUTION IN AUSTENITIC STEEL SHEETS

Abstract

The investigation presents the evolution of texture and microstructure of cold-rolled austenitic AISI 301 stainless steel sheets. The austenite steel was deformed by cold-rolling to 30%, 50% and 80% of rolling reduction. It was found, that during cold plastic deformation, phase transformation of austenite into martensite takes place. The transformation progress was confirmed by the microscopic investigation, as well as by X-ray diffraction methods. Texture analysis was performed on the basis of the orientation distribution functions (ODFs) calculated from the experimental pole figures. The texture of the deformed austenite is dominated by fiber orientations α =110║KN, mainly Goss orientation {110}001 and alloy type orientation {110}112. On the other hand, plastic deformation-induced martensitic transformation of the type (γ') significantly affects the development of martensite texture ' in the cold rolling process. After rolling with a 30% of deformation degree in the texture of  martensite, the strongest orientation is {001}110, while after maximum deformation (about 80%), the {111}112 and {112}110 type orientations dominate. It was found that in AISI 301 steel structure after deformation range from 30% to 80% proportion of α’ martensite phase changes from about 26.7% to about 67.8%.