The Relationship Between Microstructures & Textures and Magnetic Properties in Ultra-thin Grain-oriented Silicon Steel

The purpose of this contribution is to explore the relationship between microstructures & textures and magnetic properties of ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel, and to reveal how to push down microstructures and textures which are detrimental to magnetic properties. We conduct the comparative analyses upon microstructures and textures of two kinds of ultra-thin gauge strips of grain-oriented silicon steel differing in magnetic properties by means of EBSD and XRD techniques. The results indicated the obvious dissimilarities over their microstructures and textures. The steel strip with lower magnetic properties has inferior grain size uniformity and lower η-fiber texture content. On the other hand, compared with the steel with superior magnetic properties, the poor one has more non η-fiber-oriented grains which are large in size and are oriented mainly in {210}<001>, {411}<148> and {111}<110>. Thus, the huge disparity in magnetic properties of the two kinds of ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel can be attributed to the differences in grain size and η-fiber texture content. It can be inferred by this study that the accurate processing parameter control for cold rolling and annealing process is the key to avoiding formation and growth of non η-fiber-oriented grains, and is of considerable significance in the manufacture of ultra-thin gauge strips of grain-oriented silicon steel. © 2019, Materials Review Magazine. All right reserved.