Effect of recrystallization annealing temperature on texture and magnetic properties of 2.97% Si non-oriented silicon steel

Abstract

The effect of recrystallization annealing at temperatures varying from 910 to 1060 °C on the texture and magnetic properties of cold-rolled sheets with 0.3 mm in thickness of 2.97 wt.% Si–0.59wt.% Al non-oriented silicon steel were investigated. With increasing of cold-rolled sheets annealing temperature, the average of the recrystallized grain sizes increased, because of higher temperature corresponds to a faster migration rate of grain boundaries. Increasing of grain size resulted in reducing of the hysteresis loss and core losses, as the number of grain boundary significantly reduced. However, the domain size and the eddy current loss would increase as the grain sizes continued to increase, and then affecting the core losses. The oversized microstructure (∼140 µm) in 1030 °C annealed sheet brought about an augment in P15/50 (∼2.27 W/kg) and (∼130 µm) in 1000 °C annealed sheet of P10/400 (∼12.84 W/kg). Furthermore, the textures of the final sheets were mainly made up of α*-fiber, γ-fiber and {001}<130> texture. The magnetic induction diminished with increasing of annealing temperature and this result could be attributed to the strengthening in γ-fiber (<111>//ND) and weakening in λ-fiber (<100>//ND) texture.