Incomplete recrystallization in cold worked steel containing TiC

Development of primary recrystallization was studied in a steel containing 0.4 vol.% of fine TiC precipitations with an average size of 12 nm. After sufficiently large cold strains, the recrystallization developed readily upon annealing at temperatures above 600 °C. An increase in the cold strain as well as the annealing temperature resulted in the acceleration of recrystallization kinetics. However, a certain amount of cold worked microstructures of about 15 vol.% remained unrecrystallized even after annealing at a rather high temperature of 700 °C. The unrecrystallized portions were composed of grains with the 〈0 0 1〉 crystallographic direction parallel to the compression axis. Both the low stored energies in these grains and the pinning of recrystallizing grain boundaries by the dispersed carbides were discussed as crucial factors that resulted in the incomplete recrystallization.