The preferred orientations in hot-rolled, cold-rolled (70 % reduction), and annealed low-carbon steels (capped and aluminium-killed grades) have been investigated. Particular attention has been paid to the factors that control texture formation during annealing.The elastic energy stored in the cold-rolled steels is orientation dependent and the sequence, estimated from a Fourier analysis of X-ray line broadening, is V110>V111>V211>V100; the values range from 3.51 to 1.14 cal/g atom. The high energy components ({110}, {111}) have elongated cell structures but those of lower energy are equiaxed. In capped steels the high energy components recover and recrystallize most rapidly. In aluminium-killed
steels both recovery and recrystallization are inhibited at low temperatures ≤ 500℃ and recrystallization begins first in the {111} components. It is shown that these effects are associated with precipitation and/or segregation of AlN during recovery. The recrystallization texture is determined primarily by oriented nucleation.
