Microtexture Evolution and Grain Boundary Character Distribution of Interstitial-Free Steels With Moderate Levels of Cold Rolling Reductions

High-strength interstitial-free steel sheets have very good deep drawability when processed to have {111} recrystallization texture. The microtexture evolution and grain boundary character distribution of interstitial-free steels as a function of moderate levels of cold rolling reductions were investigated by the metallographic microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction technique. The results showed that there was a close relationship between microtexture and grain boundary character distribution for interstitial-free steel, especially the distribution and features of some specific types of coincident-site lattice boundaries. In addition, α-fiber texture was weakened to vanish while γ-fiber texture strengthened gradually as cold rolling reduction was increased from 20% to 75% for cold rolled and annealed samples. Accordingly, increasing the rolling reduction from 20% to 75% would lead to a significant increase in the proportion of Σ3 boundaries. Also, it was found that the microtexture of 20% cold rolled sample would induce a high frequency of Σ11 grain boundaries, but the microtexture of 75% cold rolled sample would produce more Σ7 and Σ17 grain boundaries. It was suggested that texture played a significant role in the formation of grain boundary character distribution.