Through-thickness texture in clock-rolled tantalum plate

135° clock rolling, which denotes that the rolling direction clockwise rotates 135° after per pass, was utilized to develop a desired cold-rolled texture distribution through the thickness of Ta plate. Meanwhile, the influence of starting texture and microstructure was also investigated in detail. Texture from surface to center of the initial and rolled Ta plates was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). In order to explore the correlation between initial microstructure and the evolution of rolling texture, through-thickness microstructure of the initial Ta plate was observed by optical microscope (OM). Results showed that 135° clock rolling was effective to mitigate the through-thickness texture gradients often existing in cold-rolled tantalum plate. It was found, furthermore, that texture and microstructure prior to rolling play a particular role in the formation of rolling texture.