A quantitative analysis of the evolution of texture and stored energy during annealing of cold rolled copper

The experimental evolution of the global texture during recrystallization of cold rolled copper is presented after various rolling reductions. After presentation of the method used for the decomposition of the orientation distribution functions obtained from X-ray diffraction measurements into gaussian peaks, the behavior of each texture component is studied. This quantitative analysis coupled with stored energy measurements also obtained by X-ray diffraction allows the oriented nucleation and growth mechanisms to be linked to stored energy variations. The proposed mechanisms are then confirmed by local observations obtained by EBSD. (C) 2003 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.