Influence of the Cold Rolling and Annealing Sequence on the Ridging Behaviour of Ti-Stabilized 18% Cr Ferritic Stainless Steel

The influence of the cold rolling and annealing sequence on the ridging resistance and the crystallographic texture distribution of AISI 439 type ferritic stainless steel was studied in order to determine optimal processing conditions for surface quality improvement. In the present study, the effect of two sequences of cold rolling and annealing were analysed: a single cold rolling and annealing, and an interrupted cold rolling with an intermediate and a final anneal. In the conventional single step cold rolling, the ridging resistance was found to deteriorate with increasing cold reduction ratio. For a fixed total cold reduction ratio in the two stage cold rolling, ridging was less pronounced when a higher reduction was applied in the second step. Band-like clusters of grains with similar crystallographic orientations were observed in the mid-thickness of sheets with severe ridging. The results show that severe ridging is related to the presence of band-like clusters of < 111 >//ND oriented grains. The two stage cold rolling was found to result in less band-like clusters and an improved surface quality.