Electron backscatter diffraction study of orientation gradients at the grain boundaries of a polycrystalline steel sheet deformed along different loading paths

In a polycrystal, the heterogeneity of plastic deformation in a particular grain is greatly enhanced by adjacent grains that constrain the grain's local behavior, often imposing orientation gradients. This work aims to characterize and quantify the local orientation gradients near grain boundaries (GBs). Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements were made on a 0.67 mm thick aluminium-killed drawing quality (AKDQ) steel sheet subjected to different loading paths that are typical of forming operations. A statistical analysis shows that a considerable fraction of the analyzed GB profiles can be described by an orientation profile with a constant slope near the GB. In order to quantify this behavior, as well as the degree of localization, two new parameters, based on the local orientation gradient assessed by EBSD, are proposed: BET (boundary effective thickness) and GAS (gradient average severity). These parameters should be considered together, the BET as an effective thickness of the GB zone where the orientation gradient takes place and the GAS as a measure of the magnitude or severity of the orientation gradient. Additionally, the GAS parameter shows a strong correlation with the accumulated macroscopic strain for the investigated deformation levels and loading paths, while the BET profile clearly reveals the influence of the GB on the misorientation profiles. Tension and biaxial stretching results lead to a BET value between 1.5 and 2 µm. Finally, it is shown that the local misorientation in the GB zone, on both sides of the GB line, is disperse and it does not correlate simply with misorientation or even the slip-transfer geometry across the GB. Moreover, the observed average local misorientation dispersions in GB zones are different for each loading condition.