The present study investigates the influence of the heating rate on annealing, microstructure, recrystallization, texture, and the average normal anisotropy coefficient, r value, of a niobium-stabilized ferritic stainless steel (i.e., an ASTM 430-type steel). Experiments with 0.10 and 41.5 8C s À1 heating rates are performed after 85% cold rolling. The sample's characterization is performed by optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and hardness tests. The tensile tests are performed to determine the r value and the Dr value. The results show that the extent of recrystallization and the average grain size decreases significantly when the heating rate is raised. This increased heating rate causes a weakening of g-fiber and of the 334 f gh483i and 554 f gh225i components, and leads to an even more randomized recrystallization texture. The r value after having achieved full recrystallization is improved when the heating rate is reduced. The r ¼ 1:99 is obtained for g=u ¼ 5:11 with a lower heating rate. These observed differences in recrystallization, grain size, and recrystallization texture are mainly related to the nucleation rate during annealing. The high intensity of the g-fiber is attributed to the number advantage of g-fiber grains after full recrystallization.[ Ã ] Dr.