Influence of the finish rolling temperatures on the microstructure and texture evolution in the ferritic stainless steels

The influence of the finish rolling temperature on the microstructure and texture evolution of Nb and B micro-alloyed ultra purified Cr17 ferritic stainless steels was investigated. The hot rolled bands were produced by conventional rolling process and the finish rolling at relatively low temperatures or "warm rolling". The microstructure was observed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the texture evolution processes. The results showed that as compared to conventional hot rolling process, the warm rolling has led to the refined and homogeneous microstructure and uniform recrystallization texture along gamma-fiber in final sheets, indicating that the finish rolling at relatively low temperatures can be the effective way to improve significantly the formability of final sheets.