Recrystallization Kinetics and Microstructure Evolution of Annealed Cold-Drawn Low-Carbon Steel

The recrystallization behavior of cold-drawn 0.12 wt% C steel during annealing at temperatures 600˚C and 650˚C was investigated. Hardness tests were used to characterize the recrystallization kinetics. The micrographs of the steel were obtained using optical microscopy (OM) to characterize the grain microstructure of the non-treated and the annealed steel samples. Annihilation of dislocation defects occur within the soaking time of 5 - 10 minutes for all the deformed steel after annealing at 650˚C. Specifically at 5 minutes soaking time the grains elongation is still observed indicating that reformation of grains is not taking place but recovery of the deformed grains. At the 10 minutes annealing time, new grains are observed to begin and full recrystallization is achieved at 15 minutes annealing time. At annealing time between 20 - 25 minutes, grains coarsening are observed indicating the onset of grain growth. The hardness of the material reduces with increasing annealing temperature for all the degree of cold drawn deformation. On the basis of the experimentally obtained hardness values, recrystallization increases with increasing degree of cold drawn deformation for the annealed steel. Recovery process was found to prolong in the 20% cold drawn steel as compared to the 55% cold drawn steel. The prolong recovery process is due to reduction in the driving force. Full recrystallization of the annealed steel is achieved at different soaking time depending on the degree of the cold drawn steel.