An EBSP study of isothermally‐annealed cold‐rolled nickel

Scanning electron microscopy and electron backscattered patterns, EBSP, have been employed to reveal both the grain structure and texture of 90% cold‐rolled polycrystalline nickel after 1‐hour anneals at a variety of temperatures. After annealing at either 400° or 500°C, small, cube‐oriented, equi‐axed grains were produced via primary recrystallization. At 600°C, large {124}<21 1 > oriented grains accounted for an increasing proportion of the microstructure, until at 1000°C only large grains (∼600 μm) and a sharp {124}<21 1 > texture were present. Detailed EBSP analyses of the grain boundaries surrounding the large abnormally grown grains observed at 600°C demonstrated that formation of the secondary recrystallization texture was due to migration of high‐mobility, random high‐angle boundaries around grains that had a size advantage, consistent with the Abbruzzese‐Lücke model. Microsc. Res. Tech. 63:289–297, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.