The energy stored in grains during cold rolling has been evaluated in a Fe-53%Ni alloy and in a duplex stainless steel using neutron diffraction. The measurements of diffraction peak broadening were undertaken to study the influence of stored energy on mechanisms that govern the development of the cube texture in a heavily cold rolled Fe-Ni alloy. The results suggest that the energy difference between the cube and the other main orientations increases with reduction and thus promotes the cube growth during recrystallization. It appears that such a method is relevant for a two-phase material. Furthermore, the energy levels found in the two phases are in good agreement with the strain measurements found in the literature. The austenite phase stores more energy than the ferrite one.