Shear-Coupled Grain Growth and Texture Development in a Nanocrystalline Ni-Fe Alloy during Cold Rolling

The evolution of texture, grain size, grain shape, dislocation, and twin density has been determined by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and line profile analysis in a nanocrystalline Ni-Fe alloy after cold rolling along different directions related to the initial fiber and the long axis of grains. The texture evolution has been simulated by the Taylor-type relaxed-constraints viscoplastic polycrystal model. The simulations were based on the activity of partial dislocations in correlation with the experimental results of dislocation density determination. The concept of stress-induced shear coupling is supported and strengthened by both the texture simulations and the experimentally determined evolution of the microstructure parameters. Grain growth and texture evolution are shown to proceed by the shear coupling mechanism supported by dislocation activity as long as the grain size is not smaller than about 20 nm.