Microstructural stability is an important issue for nanocrystalline materials to be practically used in many fields. The present work shows how microstructure evolves with rolling strain in pre-annealed electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel containing an initial strong fiber texture, on the basis of X-ray diffraction line profile analysis as well as transmission electron microscopy observation. The influence of shear strain on microstructural stability of the metal/roll contact interface is compared with that of the metal/metal contact interface; the latter would be closer to deformation in plane strain compression. From the statistical microstructural information, together with experimentally observed microstructure of deformed grains after the final rolling pass, it seems fair to conclude that the microstructure of the metal/metal contact interface is more stable during pack rolling than that of the metal/roll interface.
Keywords: Microstructural stability; Nanocrystalline nickel; Pack rolling; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction analysis.