Crystallographically, the magnetically "hard direction" (h.d.) of goss-textured Si-Fe arises in an angle Psi(h.d). close to 55 degrees from the rolling direction. This paper reports the "effective h.d." For h.g.o. Si-Fe subject to rotational magnetisation (RM). While circular RM yielded two values exceeding 55 degrees, elliptical RM showed much lower values, which in addition proved to be affected by the intensity of magnetisation as well as by mechanical stress. Generally, the h.d. showed minimum values of magnetostrictive strain. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.