Texture evolution in single crystal iron static recrystallization through in-situ EBSD observation

Abstract

Physical properties of metal materials are determined by microstructure evolution during recrystallization. Previous studies mainly study on grain growth kinetics in average sense. In that context, grain growth is assumed to be homogenous in consumed area. However, high heterogeneity in strain and grain orientation distribution is often found in actual applications, resulting in grain growth behaviors largely deviated from previous theories. Thus the study of recrystallization kinetics based on separated grains is in demand. In this work, with in-situ EBSD observations on tensile deformed single crystal pure iron specimens, kinetics of individual grain growth during static recrystallization was investigated. Effect of crystal orientation and strain distribution on grain growth was studied. Conclusions can be drawn that grains which have aligned [100] crystalline planes with surrounding deformed matrix have smaller resistance during area expansion. Stored energy distribution also plays a key role in grain growth kinetics and grain morphology. Main driving force may be different for grain boundary migration in highly deformed and lightly deformed regions, resulting in curved grain boundaries in highly deformed regions and long straight shape in low deformation energy regions.