Microstructure and texture evolution in 0.1 mm ultra-thin non-oriented silicon steel

The research on the preparation of 0.1 mm ultra-thin non-oriented silicon steel using industrially produced hot-rolled plates as raw material through normalization, cold rolling, and annealing, combined with microstructure and texture analysis by using XRD and EBSD technologies, as the following results: (1) The 0.1 mm ultra-thin non-oriented silicon steel exhibited optimal magnetic properties after treatment at 950 °C. The finished product had an average grain size of 85.02 µm, with iron loss values P 1.5/50 and P 1.0/400 of 2.102 W/kg and 11.37 W/kg, respectively, and a magnetic induction B 50 of 1.734 T. (2) The hot-rolled plate exhibited a gradient microstructure along the thickness direction: the surface layer showed a recrystallized structure with typical shear textures, the transitional layer was dominated by the {441}<118> texture, and the center layer exhibited strong α-fiber and weak γ-fiber textures. After normalization, complete recrystallization occurred. The surface texture of the normalized plate inherited the characteristics of the hot-rolled plate, while the core primarily displayed a strong α*-fiber texture. Cold rolling produced fibrous banded tissues along the rolling direction, characterized by strong α-fiber and weaker γ-fiber textures. Complete recrystallization occurred after annealing, predominantly characterized by α*-fiber texture with strong intensities at the {114}<481>. (3) At 950 °C for 3 s, the recrystallization ratio approached 50%, primarily comprising α-fiber textures, concentrated in {112}∼{111}<110> and γ-fiber textures components {111}<112>. After 8 s, grain growth occurred, and the texture evolved into a coexistence of multiple textures, including {114}<481>, {112}<372>, and {111}<112>. By 20 s, the α*-fiber texture dominated, accompanied by residual γ-fiber textures and {001} plane textures. (4) The {114}<481> texture existed in two forms: one nucleated within the {112}<110> fibrous banded tissues as clustered string-like grains with smaller sizes, and the other nucleated at the grain boundaries of {111}<112> grains as isolated larger grains. Although {114}<481> lacked size or quantity advantages during initial recrystallization, it became the dominant texture after 20 s.