On the influence of the chromium content on the evolution of rolling textures in ferritic stainless steels

Abstract

The crystallographic hot and cold rolling textures of various ferritic stainless steels with 10.5–16.5 wt% Cr content were investigated by use of quantitative texture analysis. The hot-rolled specimens revealed a texture gradient through the sheet thickness. In the centre layers they revealed a cold-rolling type texture (α-fibre) and close to the surface layers a strong Goss orientation. The texture maximum as well as the through-thickness texture gradient of the hot-rolled specimens increased with the Cr content. During cold rolling the textures inherited from the hot rolling process sharpened in the centre layers and decreased in the sub-surface layers. The hot band textures from which this inhomogeneity proceeded were explained in terms of the strong through-thickness profile of the shear strains. The fact that the textures were not randomized by phase transformation during hot rolling was attributed to the elevated Cr content which stabilizes the ferritic regime.