Effect of strain path on texture and annealing microstructure development in bulk pure copper processed by simple shear

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of strain path on the annealing behavior and texture development of severely plastically deformed oxygen free high conductivity copper. The material was deformed via equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to strains of 4.6 following three routes (A, B and C). Nucleation sites after recrystallization heat treatment start in shear bands with subsequent growth in the direction of slip lines. Processing that causes intersection of shear planes creates more sites for nucleation and leads to a shifting of the recrystallization curve to lower temperatures. The texture after multipass processing via route A is found to be similar to a rolling texture. An intermediate rotation of the billet of ±90° during processing (route B) is found to produce a partial fiber texture. Route C processing leads to the formation of a sheet texture which is not eliminated when a reversal strain is applied.