Effect of rolling and annealing process on the texture and magnetic properties of Fe-4.5 wt.% Si electrical steel

In this paper, the Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel with superior magnetic properties was prepared by one-pass rolling and double-pass rolling. The impact of the rolling process on the texture evolution and magnetic characteristics of Fe-4.5 wt.% Si electrical steel has been examined, emphasizing the development of λ-fiber (<001>∥ND) and η-fiber (<001>∥RD) textures. The experimental findings unequivocally indicated that the rolling technique substantially influences the texture development and magnetic characteristics of Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel. The one-pass rolling with 76.7% reduction rate facilitates the nucleation of η-fiber, yielding products characterized by γ-fiber(<111>∥ND) and η-fiber, the percentage of η-fiber texture can reach 36%. The double-pass rolling with 60% and 41.6% reduction rate reduces deformation energy storage, markedly diminishes the γ-fiber texture, and enhances the λ-fiber texture, the percentage of λ-fiber texture can reach 42%. The impact of annealing temperature on magnetic properties is mostly evident in texture, grain size, and microstructural uniformity. Intermediate annealing resulted in a reasonably high strength of λ-fiber and {113}<361 > texture with a uniform grain size even after substantial grain development, thereby greatly enhancing the magnetic properties. Considering the preparation cost and magnetic properties of Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel, it is recommended to use one-pass rolling method to prepare Fe-4.5 wt.%Si electrical steel. The magnetic properties are B 50 = 1.682 T, P 1.0/50 = 1.357 W/kg, P 1.0/400 = 17.3 W/kg, P 1.0/1000 = 68.7 W/kg.