Effect of Sb and Initial Annealing on the Microstructure, Texture, and Magnetic Behavior of Low Silicon Steel Produced by Single-Roll Drive Rolling

In the present work, the interaction of Sb and initial annealing before single-roll drive rolling on the microstructure, crystallographic texture, and magnetic behavior of 1.2 wt% Si steel was studied. Steel ingots with different antimony percentages were produced under the Ar atmosphere. After homogenization, they were subjected to symmetric hot-rolling. The produced sheets were then divided into two groups. The first group was cold-rolled to 1 mm thickness using a single-roll drive rolling machine, while the second group was subjected to initial annealing before asymmetric cold-rolling. Finally, all samples were annealed at 1000 °C for 3 min. Microstructural studies showed that with the addition of antimony, the mean grain size of samples was decreased. This effect was less significant in samples subjected to initial annealing. Moreover, the addition of antimony positively affected the desired texture. In specific, it yielded a gradual increase of θ-fiber in samples. The intensity of θ-fiber was higher in samples subjected to initial annealing compared with those without initial annealing. The comparison of the effect of average grain size and texture on magnetic behavior showed that grain size acted as the dominant parameter as the coercivity and remanence increased with decreasing grain size. However, in constant grain size, the texture played the main role in enhancing the magnetic behavior by increasing the θ-fiber intensity. The results showed that the combination of antimony and initial annealing before single-roll drive rolling resulted in the best magnetic performance in a low silicon steel sheet. Graphical Abstract