Influence of Microalloying Elements on Recrystallization Texture of Warm-Rolled Interstitial Free Steels

Abstract

The addition of microalloying elements such as Ti and Nb to increase the strength of deep drawing quality steels for automotive sheet products might affect the microstructure formed during the annealing after warm rolling in several ways. Firstly, the precipitates can exert a Zener’s pinning on growing recrystallized grain, which leads to a sluggish recrystallization kinetics. Secondly, the amount of microalloying elements control the amount of C, N, S, and P in solid solution, which indirectly affects the recrystallization texture obtained after annealing. In this sense, the work carried out with three different interstitial free (IF) and interstitial free high-strength (IFHS) steel grades allows us to conclude that the increase of microalloying additions delays recrystallization kinetics. Moreover, the abrupt texture change observed between as-rolled and annealed material indicates that the nucleation mechanism for recrystallization is more related to classical nucleation at deformed grain boundaries than subgrain rotation (continuous nucleation).