Study of recrystallization kinetics of stabilized ferritic stainless steels during hot rolling
Stabilized ferritic stainless steels are as efficient as austenitic stainless steels in many areas and less expensive. However, they suffer from a lower formability (forming + roping defect). It is therefore necessary to optimize the final microstructures and textures of these products, which requires in particular a better understanding of the evolution of the material during hot rolling.Plane strain compression tests carried out on a Gleeble® machine, reproducing the deformation during hot rolling in the center of the material, permitted to perform single- and multi-pass rolling schedules. The effects of deformation, temperature, strain rate, initial grain size and chemical composition on dynamic (during a rolling pass) and post- dynamic (during an inter-pass time) evolutions were investigated.A hot rolling pass fragments the microstructure and creates crystallites by continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX). A part of these crystallites becomes nuclei for the post-dynamic recrystallization (PDRX) during inter-pass time. The latter is characterized by the simultaneous activation of new nuclei and growth of recrystallized grains, not only within strain-hardened zones but also at the expense of other grains already recrystallized.The coupling of an existing CDRX model with a PDRX model based on experimental results allows to simulate multi-pass hot rolling schedules and to reproduce the effects of most of the operating parameters.