Texture and mechanical properties of duplex stainless steel through symmetric hot rolling

Experimental rolling trials were performed at different temperatures on EN 1.4462 duplex steel imposing also different reduction ratios and a possible solution quenching. A clear and significant relation between the applied thermo-mechanical process \nand the microstructural evolution was shown, and it is useful for designing the steel microstructure. The mechanical properties, the micro-structural features and the texture characteristics were defined for each condition in order to point out the operative parameters (i.e. thermal level, imposed strains and application of solution quenching) that permit to maximize the formability of the final hot-rolled products.