Development of λ-fiber recrystallization texture and magnetic property in Fe-6.5 wt% Si thin sheet produced by strip casting and warm rolling method

An 6.5 wt%Si-0.3 wt%Al non-oriented electrical steel as-cast sheet with strong columnar grains was produced by twin-roll strip casting process, and subsequently treated with hot rolling, warm rolling and annealing. It was shown that the warm rolled sheet was characterized by strong a-fiber (< 110 > parallel to RD), quite weak gamma-fiber (< 111 > parallel to ND) texture and inhomogeneous deformed microstructure. After annealing, desirable lambda-fiber (<001 > parallel to ND) mainly including {001} < 140> similar to {001} < 010 > components dominated the recrystallization texture while the gamma-fiber had all but disappeared, thus the annealed sheet showed a very high magnetic induction. It was indicated that the development of lambda-fiber recrystallization texture could be attributed to the preferred nucleation and grain growth under the applied processes. The present study provides a new efficient way to optimize the recrystallization texture and improve the magnetic induction of high-silicon non-oriented electrical steel sheet. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.