The evolution with strain of the stored energy in different texture components of cold-rolled IF steel revealed by high resolution X-ray diffraction

•Dislocation densities are assessed by XRD in main texture components of a steel sheet.•Dislocation densities vary with both strain and texture components.•The analysis relies on the sole presence of screw dislocations.•The measured dislocation densities include the contribution of both SSD and GND.

During the deformation of low carbon steel by cold-rolling, dislocations are created and stored in grains depending on local crystallographic orientation, deformation, and deformation gradient. Orientation dependent dislocation densities have been estimated from the broadening of X-ray diffraction lines measured on a synchrotron beamline. Different cold-rolling levels (from 30% to 95% thickness reduction) have been considered. It is shown that the present measurements are consistent with the hypothesis of the sole consideration of screw dislocations for the analysis of the data. The presented evolutions show that the dislocation density first increases within the α fiber (={hkl}<110>) and then within the γ fiber (={111}). A comparison with EBSD measurements is done and confirms that the storage of dislocations during the deformation process is orientation dependent and that this dependence is correlated to the cold-rolling level. If we assume that this dislocation density acts as a driving force during recrystallization, these observations can explain the fact that the recrystallization mechanisms are generally different after moderate or large strains.