Effect of lubrication during hot rolling on the evolution of through-thickness textures in 18%Cr ferritic stainless steel sheet

Samples of a ferritic stainless steel sheet were hot-rolled with and without application of lubrication. The effect of the different hot rolling processes on the evolution of texture and microstructure after hot rolling, cold rolling and subsequent recrystallization annealing was studied by means of macro and micro-texture analysis and microstructure observations. After hot rolling, the sample rolled with lubrication displayed uniform rolling textures through the sheet thickness, while the sample rolled without lubrication showed shear textures in the outer layers of the sheet. The finite element method was employed to reveal the strain states during hot rolling with and without lubrication. The texture of the hot rolled sheet strongly influenced the formation of texture after cold rolling and final recrystallization and, therewith, planar anisotropy as well as the severity of ridging of the final gauge sheet. Hot rolling with lubrication was beneficial to the formation of strong recrystallization textures through the whole thickness layers leading to an enhanced planar anisotropy of the sheet. The recrystallized sheet hot-rolled without lubrication displayed less severe ridging, however, which was attributed to a less frequent formation of orientation colonies in the outer thickness layers of the sheet.