The development of substructure as material passes through the roll gap has been examined for a ferritie stainless steel and it is shown that the final structure evolves close to the roll gap exit. Temperature variations as the material was rolled were monitored and the subsequent effect on substructure investigated. The variation of substructure with processing for two ferritic steels is discussed and the effect of this variation on room temperature properties is presented. It is shown that the strength–structure relationship is highly dependent upon retained martensite which degrades the tensile strength.
