Segregation affecting the evolution of primary recrystallization textures in a ternary Fe-Si-Sn alloy

Abstract

The effect of Sn addition on the primary recrystallization of cold rolled Fe-3 wt. % Si alloys is investigated. Texture evolution and misorientation distributions are analyzed on partially recrystallized samples using the electron backscatter diffraction technique (EBSD). Sn was found to affect the microstructure, throughout the thermal treatment of the materials, by refining the grains and altering the texture. In the presence of Sn, the intensity of {111} grains is reduced through all stages of recrystallization, while that of {100} and {hkl}<100> grains is increased. The favored growth of these latter grains is most likely due to a combination of mechanisms that involve nucleation site preferences and probably the presence of high mobility CSL boundaries. Σ5 boundaries were observed to increase in frequency with Sn through all stages of recrystallization. Additionally {100} grains were found to be most frequently correlated with Σ5 interfaces, which might be due to geometrical considerations. Site-specific characterization of grain boundaries was conducted with three-dimensional atom probe tomography (3D-APT) to measure the grain boundary segregation of Sn.