Effect of cold rolling process on microstructure, texture and properties of strip cast Fe-2.6%Si steel

Abstract

The use of twin-roll strip casting for the preparation of non-oriented silicon steel has attracted widespread attention in recent years, but related reports are limited. In this study, both one- and two-stage cold rolling with three intermediate annealing temperatures were employed to produce strip cast non-oriented silicon steel. The evolution of the microstructure and texture through the processing routes and its effect on magnetic properties were studied. Compared with one-stage rolling, two-stage rolling increased the in-grain shear bands and the retention of Cube texture in the cold rolled sheets, thereby promoting the nucleation of favorable Goss and Cube grains and restraining the nucleation of harmful (111) < 112 > grains. With the increase in intermediate annealing temperature, the η-fiber texture in annealed sheets was gradually enhanced, and the average grain size was increased, leading to significant improvement of magnetic properties.