Effect of strain path change on the through-thickness microstructure during tantalum rolling

High purity tantalum was respectively processed by unidirectional rolling (UR) and clock rolling (CR), and the through-thickness microstructures were investigated by multiple characterization techniques including electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), Vickers hardness (HV) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results show that the through-thickness stored energy distribution in CR specimens is more homogeneous than in UR specimens due to uniform texture distribution. {111} grains possess larger Schmid factors and the corresponding Schmid factor difference ratio than {100} grains, indicating the activation of uniserial slipping in {111} grains, which leads to inhomogeneous deformation and higher stored energy. Besides, X-ray line profile analysis (XLPA) suggests that the stored energy of {111} grains increases successively from the surface to center layer, regardless of strain paths, due to the influence of redundant friction on the surface layers. While the occurrence of multiple slipping in {100} grains leads to homogeneous deformation and lower stored energy.