Influence of electropulsing treatment on the recrystallization and texture of Ni9W alloy strip

The effects of electropulsing treatment (EPT) on the recrystallization and texture of Ni9W alloy were investigated using micro-hardness and electron backscattered diffraction patterns. It is found that compared with conventional annealing, EPT tremendously accelerates the recrystallization process of Ni9W alloy. Moreover, the full recrystallization temperature of EPT is decreased by ∼180 °C. The rapid recrystallization process is attributed to the substantial increase in the atomic flux resulting from the athermal effect. EPT also significantly reduces the intensity of cube texture after full recrystallization. The evolution of recrystallization microstructure and texture reveals that EPT greatly increases the proportion of noncube oriented nuclei but has little effect on the size advantage of cube grains. It is suggested that the change of recrystallization texture results from the different effects of EPT on cube band nucleation and shear band nucleation.