Study of Texture Evolution in the Designed Finish Rolling of 70S‐6 Welding Wire Steel: A Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method Approach

A coupled crystal plasticity finite element–representative volume element framework was developed to quantify texture evolution during finish rolling of 70S‐6 welding wire steel. The constitutive response of the BCC {110} slip family was calibrated using GLEEBLE‐3500 hot‐compression data, and microscale simulations were performed for simplified schedules involving 2, 4, and 6 passes, final rolling temperatures of 860–900 °C, and rolling speeds of 0.5–1.5 V p , where V p denotes the industrial reference speed. Pass number exerted the dominant control over texture evolution: increasing the schedule to six passes at constant total reduction reduced the maximum pole‐figure intensity by 47%, decreased the primary‐slip activity fraction by 17%, nearly doubled secondary‐slip activity, and lowered the texture‐anisotropy index from 0.41 to 0.18. In contrast, higher final rolling temperature mainly redistributed slip‐system activity, produced only modest texture weakening, with a 7% reduction in maximum intensity over 40 °C, and substantially alleviated stress concentration. Increasing rolling speed to 1.5 V p promoted secondary‐slip activation, consistent with strain‐rate‐sensitive flow, and reduced pole‐figure sharpness by 10%. These results identify 6 passes, 880 °C, and 1.0 V p as an effective processing window for obtaining a weaker, more isotropic texture with reduced stress heterogeneity.