Asymmetric rolling of interstitial-free steel using differential roll diameters. Part I: Mechanical properties and deformation textures

IF steel sheets were processed by conventional symmetric and asymmetric rolling (ASR) at ambient temperature. The asymmetry was introduced in a geometric way using differential roll diameters with a number of different ratios. The material strength was measured by tensile testing and the microstructure was analyzed by optical and transmission electron microscopy as well as electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. Texture was also successfully measured by EBSD using large surface areas. Finite element (FE) simulations were carried out for multiple passes to obtain the strain distribution after rolling. From the FE results, the velocity gradient along selected flow lines was extracted and the evolution of the texture was simulated using polycrystal plasticity modeling. The best mechanical properties were obtained after ASR using a roll diameter ratio of 2. The textures appeared to be tilted up to 12 deg around the transverse direction, which were simulated with the FE-combined polycrystal plasticity modeling in good agreement with measurements. The simulation work revealed that the shear component introduced by ASR was about the same magnitude as the normal component of the rolling strain tensor.