Structural evolution during recrystallisation: Problems in nucleation and growth

This review describes some recent experimental results concerning the microstructural and texture evolutions during primary recrystallisation of metallic alloys. The mechanisms which, by their influence on the kinetics of local events, control the orientations of the new recrystallised grains, are examined in order to improve our understanding of recrystallisation texture formation. The use of new techniques such as EBSD (Electron Back-Scattered Diffraction in a SEM) provides new perspectives for this old problem. In particular, it is now possible to quantitatively characterise the microstructure of the deformed state in terms of the local orientations related to the inhomogeneities of plastic deformation. The importance of these microtextures for the early stages of nucleation and growth is underligned by recent recrystallisation studies on steels and aluminium alloys. (orig.)