Characterization of high strength nickel thin sheets fabricated by differential speed rolling method

Results of the first study on a microstructure, texture and resultant mechanical properties evolution of technically pure nickel thin sheets (with a thickness of 300 μm) fabricated by differential speed rolling, are shown in the present paper. It was documented that the introduction of a high ratio rolls speed mismatch R to the cold rolling process results in a very prominent increase of tensile strength of the material. The recorded ultimate tensile strength of the material cold deformed with the highest R = 4 was over 30% higher than that of its counterpart subjected to the conventional (equal speed) rolling, despite the same applied thickness reduction in both cases. Moreover, a comparison with reported literature data shows that DSRed nickel sheets exhibit a comparable or even better strength than their counterparts processed by competitive fabrication methods.