In situ neutron diffraction study and electron microscopy analysis of microstructure and texture evolution during annealing of rolled CoCrFeNi alloy doped with 1 at.%C

In situ neutron diffraction studies of changes in the dislocation density, volume fraction of carbides, and crystallographic texture have been performed during annealing of a cold-rolled multi-principal element CoCrFeNi alloy doped with 1 at.%C. In addition, microstructures of the as-rolled and several annealed samples of this alloy have been investigated using electron microscopy-based techniques. It is found that cold rolling to a thickness reduction of 74% results in a brass-type rolling texture with a spread of orientations between the Goss and brass components and with a pronounced 〈111〉//ND fiber. The deformed microstructure is characterized by a high density of dislocations and shows large variations in deformation structures in regions of different crystallographic orientations. In particular, bundles of deformation twins and high frequencies of shear bands are observed in regions having orientations along the 〈111〉//ND fiber. Annealing at 700 °C–1000 °C leads to recovery and recrystallization, during which shear bands and regions of mixed orientations act as preferential nucleation sites for recrystallized grains. Precipitation of M23C6 particles also takes place during annealing. The particles retard boundary migration, thus slowing down recrystallization and restricting grain growth. The average size of recrystallized grains does not exceed 5 μm even after annealing at 1000 °C for 60 min. While rolling textures are retained in some annealed samples, other samples demonstrate distinct recrystallization textures with new texture components. The results obtained in this work are compared with the literature data for several carbon-doped face-centered cubic multi-principal element alloys and for a carbon-free CoCrFeNi alloy.