Effect of thermomechanical treatment on the cold resistance of low-carbon low-alloy welding steel

Effect of the structure and texture formed upon thermomechanical treatment (TMechT) on the cold resistance of low-carbon low-alloy welding steel is considered. The structure has been investigated by the metallographic and electron-microscopic methods; the texture has been studied by X-ray diffraction method with the aid of the analysis of the orientation distribution function (ODF). Structural factors that affect an increase in the cold resistance, including creation of a submicrocrystalline structure, have been considered. It has been established that the components of the texture result from a regular crystallographic rearrangement of the texture of hot deformation of austenite into the texture of the α phase upon the γ → α transformation. It is shown that the dependence of the cold resistance of the rolled sheet on the fraction of the cube component in the texture of the α phase has a complex nonmonotonic nature.