Evolution of the texture of spray-formed Fe–6.5 wt.% Si–1.0 wt.% Al alloy during warm-rolling

Aluminum additions to brittle Fe–6.5 wt.% Si alloys made possible the mechanical processing of these alloys at lower temperatures and thus being determinant in the development of the texture. The aim of this work was to analyse the evolution of the crystallographic texture of a spray-formed (SF) Fe–6.5 wt.% Si–1.0 wt.% Al during rolling operation for thin sheets production. The SF deposit was warm-rolled and then air cooled to obtain partial recrystallisation. The initial texture (0 1 1) [ 0   1 ¯   1 ] [1 0 0] (// to normal direction-ND) of the deposit was changed to approximately (0 1 3) [ 1   1 ¯   0 ] [1 1 0] (8° from ND) after the last reduction step. The maxima intensities of texture was found at 700 °C (89% of reduction) showing the influence of rolling temperature; after warm-rolling the entire texture changes to a partial ND fibre running from {0 0 1} to {1 1 0}, with negligible Goss intensities. The transition away from an ND fibre texture in the lattermost case (99.5% reduction) was in turn associated with the near-absence of shear bands.