Strain effects on annealing behaviours of moderately deformed nanocrystalline nickel

We report the annealing behaviours of nanocrystalline nickel as a function of plastic strain. A broad exothermic reaction due to primary and secondary recrystallisations appears in moderately deformed samples that are enhanced by plastic strain. Texture analysis shows that predeformation and recrystallisation play an important role in grain orientation. A certain difference in texture evolution exists in samples predeformed to different strains. Defects such as stacking faults and twinning should be considered to pin down the underlying mechanisms. The final grain orientation indicates that twinning plays an important role in grain growth due to orientation selection.