Effect of manganese in high silicon alloyed non-oriented electrical steel sheets

The effect of manganese on high silicon alloyed electrical steel sheets has been investigated. Three alloys with different Mn content (0.20, 0.69 and 1.38 wt%) have been melted on a laboratory scale and processed to fully-finished electrical steel sheets with 0.5 mm thickness. The effect of Mn on the mechanical, microstructural and magnetic properties has been studied. The average grain size decreases as Mn content increases. The texture is hardly affected by a variation of Mn content but the material is strengthened with increasing Mn content by solid solution strengthening. Mn increases the electrical resistance, which results in lower core losses at higher frequencies.