Effect of rolling and annealing process on the texture and magnetic properties of Fe-4.5 wt.% Si electrical steel

In this paper, the Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel with superior magnetic properties was prepared by one-pass rolling and double-pass rolling. The impact of the rolling process on the texture evolution and magnetic characteristics of Fe-4.5 wt.% Si electrical steel has been examined, emphasizing the development of lambda-fiber (<001>parallel to ND) and eta-fiber (<001>parallel to RD) textures. The experimental findings unequivocally indicated that the rolling technique substantially influences the texture development and magnetic characteristics of Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel. The one-pass rolling with 76.7% reduction rate facilitates the nucleation of eta-fiber, yielding products characterized by gamma-fiber(<111>parallel to ND) and eta-fiber, the percentage of eta-fiber texture can reach 36%. The double-pass rolling with 60% and 41.6% reduction rate reduces deformation energy storage, markedly diminishes the gamma-fiber texture, and enhances the lambda-fiber texture, the percentage of lambda-fiber texture can reach 42%. The impact of annealing temperature on magnetic properties is mostly evident in texture, grain size, and microstructural uniformity. Intermediate annealing resulted in a reasonably high strength of lambda-fiber and {113}<361 > texture with a uniform grain size even after substantial grain development, thereby greatly enhancing the magnetic properties. Considering the preparation cost and magnetic properties of Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel, it is recommended to use one-pass rolling method to prepare Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel. The magnetic properties are B-50 = 1.682 T, P-1.0/50 = 1.357 W/kg, P-1.0/400 = 17.3 W/kg, P-1.0/1000 = 68.7 W/kg.