Tracing the recrystallization of warm temper-rolled Fe–6.5 wt% Si non-oriented electrical steel using a quasi in situ EBSD technique

Fe–6.5 wt% Si non-oriented electrical steel is an excellent soft magnetic material due to the low core losses at high frequencies and near-zero magnetostriction. In this study, an Fe–6.5 wt% Si non-oriented electrical steel was processed by hot rolling, warm cross rolling, intermediate annealing, warm temper rolling and final annealing. The evolution of microstructure and microtexture during final annealing was investigated using a quasi in situ EBSD (electron backscatter diffraction) technique. After warm temper rolling, an area on the ND–RD (normal direction–rolling direction) cross section was marked by micro-hardness indents, and the recrystallization of individual grains in this area was traced under EBSD when the annealing time was increased. Due to the differences in the microstructure, texture and stored energy after warm temper rolling, the surface and center regions showed different recrystallization behaviors. The recrystallization of the surface region was essentially initiated by the growth of existing crystallites having lower stored energy than their neighboring areas (essentially no nucleation), while the center region showed both nucleation and grain growth during annealing. The growth rates of individual grains were evaluated with respect to the number of neighboring grains, and they approximately followed the von Neumann–Mullins law of grain growth. The surface region showed a much faster growth rate than the center region. The final texture was dominated by //ND and //ND in both the surface and center regions, due to the preferred growth of these grains.