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The Growth of {1 1 h}〈1 2 1/h〉 (α*-Fiber) Grains and the Evanesce of {001}〈100〉 (Cube) Grains During the Recrystallization of Warm Rolled Fe-6.5 Wt Pct Si Non-oriented Electrical Steel

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Abstract

〈001〉//ND (normal direction) texture (including the cube, {001}〈100〉) is a desired final texture in non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) due to the alignment of two magnetically easy 〈100〉 axes in the magnetization directions of the lamination core in rotating machines. However, after conventional rolling and annealing, the final texture of NOES is usually not the desired 〈001〉//ND texture, but the unfavorable 〈111〉//ND (γ-fiber), 〈110〉//RD (rolling direction) (α-fiber), and sometimes {1 1 h}〈1 2 1/h〉 (α*-fiber) textures. How do these textures (especially the α*-fiber texture) form in the recrystallization process is still not completely understood. This paper investigates the recrystallization process of a warm rolled NOES containing 6.5 wt pct Si and tracks the growth of individual grains using a quasi in-situ EBSD (electron backscatter diffraction) technique. It is shown that the {1 1 h}〈1 2 1/h〉 (α*-fiber) grains (including {001}〈120〉, {114}〈481〉, and {112}〈241〉) normally form in the later stage of recrystallization, and mainly nucleate in the mid-thickness region of the deformed steel from grains having the 〈110〉//RD (α-fiber) orientations. Once nucleated, they can rapidly grow into the deformed matrix due to the large energy difference between the recrystallized and deformed grains and to the high-mobility grain boundaries with respect to the deformed matrix. On the other hand, although cube grains nucleate early during recrystallization, they cannot grow significantly into the deformed grains because of the very high misorientation angles with respect to the deformed grains, which may have caused “orientation pinning”. As a result, the cube grains are finally consumed by the large α*-fiber grains due to size disadvantage. The origins of the α*-fiber grains and cube grains are also analyzed using the quasi in-situ EBSD data obtained in the early stages of annealing.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52205385), Ningbo Science and Technology Plan Project (Nos. 2021J098 and 2020Z110). Y. H. acknowledges the financial support from Natural Resources Canada through the Program of Energy Research and Development (PERD). H. X. is grateful to the support from Chinese Scholarship Council (No. 201806080099). The authors are grateful to Jian Li and Renata Zavadil for assistance in EBSD characterization.

Author Contribution

Haijie Xu: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft. Youliang He: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. Xuedao Shu: Supervision, Resources, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. Yunbo Xu: Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Steve Yue: Supervision, Resources, Funding acquisition.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to technical or time limitations.

Competing interest

There are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Part Rolling Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, P.R. China

    Haijie Xu & Xuedao Shu

  2. CanmetMATERIALS, Natural Resources Canada, Hamilton, ON, L8P 0A5, Canada

    Youliang He

  3. State Key Laboratory of Rolling Technology and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, P.R. China

    Yunbo Xu

  4. Department of Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B2, Canada

    Steve Yue

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Xu, H., He, Y., Shu, X. et al. The Growth of {1 1 h}〈1 2 1/h〉 (α*-Fiber) Grains and the Evanesce of {001}〈100〉 (Cube) Grains During the Recrystallization of Warm Rolled Fe-6.5 Wt Pct Si Non-oriented Electrical Steel. Metall Mater Trans A (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-024-07370-3

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