Recrystallization and mechanical properties of cold-rolled FeCrAl alloy during annealing

The effect of cold rolling and annealing on the microstructure and properties of an Fe–13Cr–4.5Al–2.2Mo–1.1Nb alloy was investigated. The results showed that the recrystallization rate increased with increasing annealing temperature and rolling reduction. Recrystallization kinetics was constructed based on Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation. The apparent activation energies of recrystallization were 161.385, 144.770, and 95.362 kJ/mol for the samples with 30%, 50%, and 70% cold-rolling reduction, respectively. With the cold-rolling reduction increasing, the texture γ fiber partly changed to 〈100〉//ND. After annealing, γ fiber of the alloy with 30% thickness reduction retained, the subgrains disappeared through merging, and the proportion of coincident site lattice grain boundaries increased and became more continuous. 30% cold-rolling reduction alloy annealed at 730 °C for 120 min not only possessed relatively high yield strength (YS) of ~ 730 MPa and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of ~ 880 MPa, but also exhibited elongation of ~ 16% at room temperature. After annealing at 730 °C for 120 min, 70% cold-rolled alloy has finer and more uniform grain, with higher elongation of ~ 22%, YS of ~ 615 MPa and UTS of ~ 774 MPa. The mechanism of mechanical properties difference was explained according to Schmid factor analysis. These results provided an effective way for tuning strength and ductility of FeCrAl alloy.