Effect of cold rolling reduction and intercritical annealing temperature on the bulk texture of two TRIP-aided steel sheets

High strength TRIP-aided steel sheets with high formability and better ductility are of industrial interest. Texture control and retained austenite characterization are considered as the main factors with respect to the formability and ductility. Processing parameter such as initial conditions of hot rolling, cold rolling to final size of sheet, intercritical annealing after cold rolling and subsequent isothermal heat treatment to achieve TRIP specification in product, affect bulk texture of sheets. Moreover, chemical composition of steel should be noted especially because it can change the intensity of orientation and final macro texture of sheet.In this work, the effect of cold rolling and intercritical annealing on texture development has been investigated for two TRIP-aided steel sheets, which are different in C, Si and Al content. Results show that the cold rolling extends the γ-fiber on these grades of steel, whereas any intensive α-fiber components were not observed by change of cold rolling reduction. Also the effect of cold rolling on final texture of experimented materials is different and depends on chemical composition of steel. In contrary, intercritically annealing of cold rolled sheets decreases the intensity of γ-fiber so that the chemical composition of TRIP steel would influence effectively.