Mechanisms for dynamic recrystallization in a β-quenched Zr-1Nb-1Sn-0.1Fe alloy during hot compression

In this paper, uniaxial hot compression tests of β-quenched Zr-1Nb-1Sn-0.1Fe alloy under a strain of 0.91 were conducted at various temperatures ranging from 600 °C to 750 °C. The microstructure, texture evolution, deformation mode and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) mechanism were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results of the In-Grain Misorientation Axis (IGMA) method showed that the prismatic  was the dominant deformation mode when the temperature was 600 °C. The prismatic  and pyramidal  were the dominant deformation modes during hot compression between 650 and 750 °C. To study the mechanism of DRX, the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density, grain orientation spread (GOS) and grain reference orientation deviation (GROD) maps were calculated. The results showed that both discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) coexisted during hot compression. When deformed at 600 °C, the recrystallization mechanism was mainly DDRX, while it was mainly CDRX above 600 °C. The change in the DRX mechanism can be attributed to the activation fraction of different slip systems and the resulting development of misorientation.