Characterization of the variant selection occurring during the α→β→α phase transformations of a cold rolled titanium sheet

The fact that a cold rolling prior to an alpha-->beta-->alpha transformation sequence causes the sharpening of the inherited alpha textures is analyzed. A restitution method is used to evaluate the intermediate beta textures which allowed us to discuss the occurrence of variant selection in the beta-->alpha transformation. It appears that cold rolling prior to the alpha-->beta transformation makes the high temperature beta texture sharper, with a density reinforcement around the {112}/{11-2}<111> components and further the variant selection occurring in the beta-->alpha phase transformation becomes stronger. The local texture analysis obtained by EBSD leads to the same results and is used to characterize the variant selection occurring in the beta-->alpha transformation. (C) 2002 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.