  The texture of high purity superconducting niobium sheets plays an important
role in the physical and mechanical properties of high purity niobium sheet
that are important for manufacturing of superconducting accelerator cavities.
In a particular batch of sheet metal, orientation imaging microscopy showed an
inhomogeneous texture from the surface to the mid-thickness of the sheet
consisting a gamma fiber, {111}<uvw>), cube fiber, {100}<uvw>), and also some
components on the alpha fiber, {hkl}<110>. With uniaxial deformation, peaks on
the {uvw}<111> gamma fiber evolve differently depending on the in-plane
direction of deformation, and the position in the sample (surface vs. center).
Applying a different strain path such as balanced biaxial bulging, leads to
development of rotated Goss, {110}<110> components in the texture of the
deformed niobium. These results show that the texture of niobium is very
sensitive to the deformation and strain path.
