Evaluation of Microstructure and Texture Development in Zr-1.0Nb Sheet during Cold-Rolling

The effect of manufacturing conditions such as rolling reductions and steps on the texture and microstructure was investigated for an hot-rolled Zr-1.0Nb sheet. The crystallographic texture of the cold-rolled and annealed sheet was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the rolling plane, and the microstructure was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron back-scattering diffraction (SEM-EBSD). The results show that the grain size ranges from bimodal distribution to homogeneous distribution with the increase of cold rolling reductions from 30% to 70%. Textural developments are generalized in terms of (0001) and <10 <(1)over bar> 0> fibers and enhanced by the progressive cold rolling and annealing. The correlation between texture and microstructure developments has been discussed extensively based on the obtained results.