Understanding the mechanisms behind the development of cube orientation in the non-cube grains during plane strain compression of medium to high stacking-fault energy FCC metals

Medium to high stacking-fault energy FCC metals develop a pronounced cube texture during static recrystallization. Previous studies reported that the recrystallized grains can nucleate from the cube-oriented regions developed in the non-cube grains during plane strain compression. However, the mechanisms behind the development of cube orientation in the non-cube grains are still unknown. In this work, we used an elastoviscoplastic fast Fourier transform (EVP-FFT) based crystal plasticity model to study the lattice rotation of non-cube orientations under plane strain compression. Firstly, we focus on a non-cube grain which developed the cube orientation in previous experimental work. The non-cube orientation does not rotate towards the cube orientation during single material point deformation under ideal plane strain compression. In contrast, the same non-cube orientation develops cube-oriented fragments during the polycrystalline deformation. Analysis of the micro-mechanical fields reveal that the local deviation of the RD-ND shear component leads to a remarkable change in the slip system activity which promotes the lattice rotation towards the cube orientation. Although the mechanism remains unchanged, the location and volume fraction of the cube orientation developed in the non-cube grain vary significantly in different grain neighborhoods. For the general case of a polycrystalline microstructure, deviation of the RD-ND shear component shows the highest correlation with the development of the cube orientation in the non-cube grains. The deviation is larger for the non-cube grains with higher Taylor factor. These findings have significant implications for the cube texture control during the practical rolling operation and recrystallization.