Recrystallisation

Recrystallisation is a process accomplished by heating whereby deformed grains are replaced by a new set of grains that nucleate and grow until the original grains have been entirely consumed.

Recyrstallisation is an annealing process applied to cold-worked metal to obtain nucleation and growth of new grains without phase change. This heat treatment removes the results of the heavy plastic deformation of highly shaped cold formed parts. The annealing is effective when applied to hardened or cold-worked steels, which recrystallise the structure to form new ferrite grains.

Recyrstallisation allows recovery process by reduction or removal of work-hardening effects (stresses). Recyrstallisation increases ductility and equiaxed ferrite grains formed from the elongated grains but decreases the strength and hardness level.

The annealing of stamped parts in cold-rolled steel is designed to produce a recrystallised ferrite microstructure from highly elongated, stressed grains resulting from cold work