Revealing the inhomogeneous nature of microstructure and texture evolution in the cold-rolled CoCrFeMnNi alloy during static recrystallization

In the present investigation, equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy (HEA) was subjected to 80% cold rolling (as-rolled) followed by isothermal annealing treatment at 700 °C for different time periods. Microstructural characterization was performed using electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) techniques on the as-rolled and annealed samples. The as-rolled microstructure consisted of elongated grains mainly composed of strong α-fiber and weak γ-fiber textures. The as-rolled sample showed the formation of ingrain SBs in the γ-fiber grains, which served as preferential sites for grain nucleation. The annealing treatment of as-rolled samples at 700 °C cause static recovery (SRV) before 5 minutes of heat-treatment, whereas static recrystallization (SRX) was observed after 5 minutes of heat-treatment in the CoCrFeMnNi alloy samples. A faster rate of recrystallization kinetics was observed after 15 minutes of heat-treatment. The annealing treatment reduced the intensity of α-fiber and enhanced the Copper, Cube and P ({011}<122>) texture components. Copper components originated from coarse recrystallized grains, which were the results of localized grain growth phenomena. Unusual behavior of banded featured α-fiber grains was observed during the annealing process. These banded grains in the partially annealed samples consisted of subgrain-boundaries and showed a delayed response to recrystallization as compared to grains with other orientations. Stored energy (SE) and Taylor factor (M) calculations were also used to understand the delayed recrystallization response of the banded featured/retained deformed grains. The microhardness value of the as-rolled sample was approximately 450 Hv, which decreased to around 230 Hv for the fully recrystallized grains.