Two-stage warm cross rolling and its effect on the microstructure, texture and magnetic properties of an Fe-6.5 wt% Si non-oriented electrical steel

Cross rolling is an effective processing technique used to optimize the crystallographic texture of electrical steel sheets. However, it is usually applied in cold rolling only. It is unknown how this rolling technique affects the microstructure and texture of electrical steels at elevated temperatures. In this study, a two-stage warm cross rolling scheme, i.e., rolling at elevated temperatures and in alternative directions with respect to the hot rolling direction (HRD), was applied to an Fe-6.5 wt% Si non-oriented electrical steel to produce thin steel sheets. The swapping of rolling direction between the two warm rolling stages significantly changed the deformation microstructure and texture, leading to different final recrystallization textures. These differences are attributed to the discrepancies in slip activities at elevated temperatures and to the different initial textures resulted from the change in rolling direction. The magnetic properties of the final steel sheets are evaluated by single sheet testing. Although the steel processed by warm rolling along HRD in the first stage and along HTD in the second stage exhibits a slightly higher magnetic flux density than other routes, it is shown that the magnetic flux density and core loss may have little relation to the crystallographic texture since the magnetocrystalline anisotropy caused by the texture is small.