Microstructure,texture and precipitates of grain-oriented silicon steel produced by thin slab casting and rolling process

A grain-oriented silicon steel strip with AlN as main inhibitor was produced by thin slab casting and rolling(TSCR)process.The microstructure,texture and precipitates of the hot-rolled strip were investigated by use of optical microscope(OM),X-ray diffractometer,transmission electron microscope(TEM)and energy dispersive spectroscope(EDS).The result shows that the microstructure and texture exhibit a through-thickness gradient similar to that of the hot-rolled strip produced by conventional high-temperature slab-reheating process;the preferred orientation varies from {110}<001>in the surface layer to{001}<110>in the center layer,and the Goss texture with a maximum intensity mainly concentrates on the surface layer.In addition,some other texture components,for example rotated Goss texture,form in the 1/4thickness layer,which are not observed in the hotrolled strip produced by conventional high-temperature slab-reheating process.The precipitates in the hot-rolled strip are mainly(Mn,Cu)S and AlN compound particles with dimension of 100-200 nm,and the fine precipitates are significantly less than that in the hot-rolled strip produced by conventional high-temperature slab-reheating process.Moreover,the areal density of the fine precipitates in the center layer is more than that in the surface layer.