Unique effect of carbon addition on development of deformation texture through changes in slip activation and twin deformation in heavily cold-rolled Fe-3% Si alloys

The effect of carbon addition on the development of cold-rolling texture in heavily cold-rolled ultra-low carbon (ULC) 3% Si steel (<0.0005 mass% C-3.11 mass% Si) and low carbon (LC) 3% Si steel (0.016 mass% C-3.10 mass% Si) was investigated experimentally and theoretically. A higher carbon content in LC 3% Si steel led to the development of a {100}<011> cold-rolling texture compared with ULC 3% Si steel when the rolling reduction was 90%, which was the opposite tendency to that for conventional carbon steel without silicon content. According to slip bands observations at early stages of plastic deformation, carbon addition activated pencil-glide slip deformation on {110}, {112} and {123} slip planes and promoted deformation twinning, while only {110}<111> slip deformation was observed in ULC 3% Si steel. Crystal plasticity simulation implied that the combined effect of pencil-glide slips and twinning contributes significantly to the development of the {100}<011> cold-rolling texture in heavily cold-rolled LC 3% Si steel.