Abstract:As core conductor materials for high-end electronic components and power transmission systems, oxygen-free copper strips require increasingly stringent performance specifications to meet diverse application demands. During cold rolling, different reduction rate distribution significantly influences material properties through microstructure transformation including grain orientation, dislocation density, and texture evolution. Under identical total deformation conditions, this study investigated effects of different cold rolling reduction rate distribution schemes on microstructure, texture, and performance of the material. Results showed that reducing the number of rolling can reduce the number of intermediate annealing and increase reduction rate of each rolling, which enhanced energy storage and nucleation sites formation to elevate recrystallization nucleation rates, ultimately leading to smaller final grain sizes. Increasing single reduction rates improved the proportion of various deformation textures, enhancing product microstructural uniformity. When single reduction rate exceeded 80%, orientation density of {112}<111>(copper), {110}<112>(brass), and {123}<634>(S) deformation textures was significantly enhanced, promoting the formation of strong {001}<100>(cube) textures during recrystallization annealing. Higher cube texture proportions contributed to lower microhardness and slightly improved conductivity of oxygen-free copper strips. The results provided a theoretical basis for adjustment of production process and optimization of product properties of oxygen-free copper strip.