ANALYSIS OF MICROSTRUCTURE AND MICROTEXTURE IN GRAIN-ORIENTED ELECTRICAL STEEL (GOES) DURING MANUFACTURING PROCESS

The final Goss texture in grain-oriented electrical steels (GOES) is affected by microstructure evolution and inheritance during the whole production process. This paper presents the results of detailed microtexture and microstructure investigations on GOES after the basic steps of the industrial AIN + Cu manufacturing process: hot rolling, first cold rolling + decarburization annealing, second cold rolling and final high temperature annealing. Microstructure studies showed that a copper addition to GOES affected solubility of sulphides. Copper rich sulphides dissolved during hot rolling and re-precipitated during decarburization annealing. An intensive precipitation of AIN and Si3N4, took place during decarburization annealing. No epsilon - Cu precipitation was detected. After high temperature annealing the misorientation of individual grains reached up to 8 degrees.