Effect of Pulsed Magnetic Field on Normal Grain Growth of Grain-oriented Silicon Steels during Primary Recrystallization Annealing

Pulsed magnetic field was applied to investigate the normal grain growth of grain-oriented silicon steels during primary recrystallization annealing. Three pieces of cold-rolled sheet were firstly annealed at 700 degrees C for 10 minutes; then two of them were annealed with and without a pulsed magnetic field of IT with the direction parallel to the rolling direction at 700 degrees C for 30 minutes respectively. Microstructures and textures of the three annealed samples mentioned above were finally characterized by optical microscopy and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) technique. The results indicate that pulsed magnetic field can promote the normal grain growth, and can affect the texture development by increasing the intensity of {001}<120> component and decreasing the intensity of alpha and gamma fibers. Magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy and grain boundary mobility are employed to account for the pulsed magnetic field annealing mechanism.