Fengxiang Lin

Supercube grains leading to a strong cube texture and a broad grain size distribution after recrystallization

This work revisits the classical subject of recrystallization of cold-rolled copper. Two characterization techniques are combined: three-dimensional X-ray diffraction using synchrotron X-rays, which is used to measure the growth kinetics of individual grains in situ, and electron backscatter diffraction, which is used for statistical analysis of the microstructural evolution. As the most striking result, the strong cube texture after recrystallization is found to be related to a few super large cube grains, which were named supercube grains. These few supercube grains become large due to higher growth rates. However, most other cube grains do not grow preferentially. Because of the few supercube grains, the grain size distribution after recrystallization is broad. Reasons for the higher growth rates of supercube grains are discussed, and are related to the local deformed microstructure.

Effects of Initial Parameters on the Development of Cube Texture during Recrystallization of Copper

A series of oxygen free high conductivity copper samples with different initial grain sizes, cold rolling conditions and storage times as well as slightly different impurity contents was used to investigate the effects of these initial parameters on the development of cube texture during recrystallization. For rolling reductions of 90% and 95%, cube textures with volume fractions between 3% and 50% were observed. Higher rolling reduction led to a stronger cube texture. Cube texture development is very sensitive to the initial grain size before rolling. In general, fine grained material gives a strong cube texture after recrystallization, and the requirement on fineness of the grain size may vary for materials with different purity. Large sample widening during rolling can largely inhibit the development of cube texture after recrystallization. Neither storage time, nor the slight change in impurity content had large effects in the present investigation.

Crystallographic Analysis of Nucleation at Hardness Indentations in High-Purity Aluminum

Nucleation at Vickers hardness indentations has been studied in high-purity aluminum cold-rolled 12 pct. Electron channeling contrast was used to measure the size of the indentations and to detect nuclei, while electron backscattering diffraction was used to determine crystallographic orientations. It is found that indentations are preferential nucleation sites. The crystallographic orientations of the deformed grains affect the hardness and the nucleation potentials at the indentations. Higher hardness gives increased nucleation probabilities. Orientation relationships between nuclei developed at different indentations within one original grain are analyzed and it is found that the orientation distribution of the nuclei is far from random. It is suggested that it relates to the orientations present near the indentation tips which in turn depend on the orientation of the selected grain in which they form. Finally, possible nucleation mechanisms are briefly discussed.

Kinetics of individual grains during recrystallization of cold-rolled copper

The formation of a recrystallization texture is closely related to the nucleation and growth of recrystallizing grains, which may vary from grain to grain. Cube texture is a commonly observed recrystallization texture in face centered cubic metals of medium to high stacking fault energy after heavy cold-rolling and annealing. In this work, recrystallization of pure copper cold-rolled to a von Mises strain of 2.7 was investigated in situ using three-dimensional X-ray diffraction. Growth curves of 835 grains were determined, and the curves of cube and noncube grains were compared. It was found that the nucleation times of cube grains and non-cube grains were similar, whereas the growth rates of a few but not all cube grains were high. Effects hereof for the development of the cube texture were discussed.

Effects of structural heterogeneity of nanostructured copper on the evolution of the sizes of recrystallized grains during annealing

Recrystallization in copper deformed by dynamic plastic deformation was investigated using electron backscatter diffraction. The recrystallized grains show a broad size distribution. The kinetics of grains of different sizes is observed to be different: In the beginning of recrystallization, the area fraction of small recrystallized grains increases rapidly. At later stages of recrystallization, the area fraction of small recrystallized grains is stable, while the area fractions of medium and large recrystallized grains increase. Correlation between the broad grain size distribution (and its evolution) and the heterogeneous deformed microstructure is discussed.

Local strain distributions in partially recrystallized copper determined by in situ tensile investigation

A partially recrystallized copper sample produced by cold-rolling and annealing was deformed in situ by uniaxial tension in a scanning electron microscope, and electron backscatter diffraction data were collected before and after deformation to certain strains. The local strain distributions are quantified using digital image correlation. Distributions of the normal strain along the tensile direction (exx) are shown in this paper. The recrystallized grains are found to deform more than the remaining unrecrystallized matrix. When exx is averaged along lines perpendicular to the tensile direction, significant variation are observed, which may be related to the local recrystallized volume fraction.