Original Research Article Evolution of crystallographic texture and strain in a fine-grained Ni 3 Al (Zr, B) intermetallic alloy during cold rolling W. Polkowski *, P. Jóźwik, K. Karczewski, Z. Bojar Department of Advanced Materials and Technologies, Faculty of Advanced Technologies and Chemistry, Military University of Technology, Gen. S. Kaliskiego 2 Street, 00-908 Warsaw, Poland 1. Introduction Over the last 30 years, considerable effort has been devoted to developing high-temperature structural materials that are based on ordered intermetallic compounds. Much attention has been paid to aluminides. In these alloys, the primary component (the matrix) is an aluminium-contain- ing intermetallic phase (e.g., NiAl, Fe 3 Al or Ti 3 Al). Among these materials, Ni 3 Al-based alloys have been considered as direct alternatives to the superalloys that are in current use. Compared to classical heat-resistant alloys, these materials exhibit the following properties (see for example, [1–4]):  significantly higher oxidation and carburisation resistances at temperatures up to 1100 8C,  good mechanical strength at high temperatures (because of an anomalous increase in their yield strength with rising temperature), a r c h i v e s o f c i v i l a n d m e c h a n i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g x x x ( 2 0 1 4 ) x x x – x x x a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 21 October 2013 Accepted 26 April 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Intermetallics Cold rolling Plastic deformation Microstructure Microtexture a b s t r a c t In this paper, we investigate the structural evolution of a fine-grained Ni 3 Al (Zr, B) interme- tallic-based alloy during cold rolling. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission gun (FEG) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used with an electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system to analyse changes in the ordering, microstructure, microtexture and lattice strain during plastic deformation of the investigated alloy. The results showed that the Ni 3 Al (Zr, B) intermetallic-based alloy underwent extensive microstructural and ordering changes upon plastic deformation. This transformation was facilitated by a change in the rolling texture from that of a pure metal to that of an alloy. This textural transition could be attributed to the localisation of the plastic deformation in the form of intense shearing. The occurrence of mechanical twinning was not directly confirmed by the experimental results; therefore, the reordering transition could also have affected the occurrence of the shear banding. The lattice strain was also analysed using the EBSD method (using local misorien- tation or pattern quality approaches) and microhardness measurements, which showed that the observed structural transformation was also facilitated by an accommodation process that produced a partial release of stored energy. # 2014 Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. on behalf of Politechnika Wrocławska. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 22 683 77 93; fax: +48 22 683 99 45. E-mail address: wpolkowski@wat.edu.pl (W. Polkowski). ACME-222; No. of Pages 11 Please cite this article in press as: W. Polkowski et al., Evolution of crystallographic texture and strain in a fine-grained Ni 3 Al (Zr, B) intermetallic alloy during cold rolling, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.04.011 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/acme http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2014.04.011 1644-9665/# 2014 Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. on behalf of Politechnika Wrocławska.