Microstructure and Texture of Silicon Steel Fabricated by Twin Roll Casting Process

Abstract

Silicon steels have been playing very important role in electrical industry with their major applications in transformer cores, motors, and generators. Recently there has been a strong demand for energy savings that prompt the development of high-performance materials for high frequency applications, having the properties of high permeability, high electrical resistivity, and near zero magnectostriction. It is well known that increasing the Si content improves the magnetic properties of Si steels and there have been large efforts to extend the amount of Si to 6.5 wt%. However, 6.5 wt% Si steel is quite brittle, making the fabrication of the steel extremely difficult by conventional method. The present research is aimed at fabricating 2 and 6wt% Si steel by twin-roll casting process, which can fabricate thin sheets directly from melt. Since the amount of hot/cold rolling required to fabricate the final products is much smaller in twin-roll cast alloy than in conventionally processed alloy, twin-roll cast alloy can also utilize the cast texture. Microstructural and texture development during twin-roll casting and secondary processing have been studied in this present research.