Effect of Cooling Rate on Magnetic Properties of Fe-3.3 wt% Si Non-oriented Electrical Steel

In this paper, the effects of solidification cooling rate on the inclusion distribution, magnetic properties, and texture of 3.3 wt% Si non-oriented steel with different carbon and sulfur (C&S) levels are measured and analyzed. Fast and slow cooled strip samples produced using specially designed melt samplers were thermo-mechanically treated by hot rolling (HR), cold rolling (CR), and final annealing. The fully processed fast cooled sample (~ 1700 K/s) exhibited a smaller average grain size compared to the sample produced with a low solidification cooling rate (~ 9 K/s). In addition, under each C&S level, smaller inclusions (in the range 0.15–1.0 μm) were observed in the high solidification cooling rate sample. Differences in Cube {100}〈001〉, S{213}〈364〉, Brass{110}〈112〉, Goss{110}〈001〉, and Copper{112}〈111〉 texture were also documented in the fully processed material. Under each C&S level, the sample with low solidification cooling rate had a lower core loss than the high cooling rate sample.