Investigation on Recrystallization Behavior of Cold‐Rolled Silicon Steel in Continuous Heating with Three‐Point Bending Testing

Understanding the recrystallization behavior of cold‐rolled silicon steel during continuous heating is essential for optimizing continuous annealing parameters and accurately controlling material performance. To address the limitations of isothermal annealing studies in interpreting actual continuous annealing processes, this study investigates the recrystallization kinetics of Fe–2.3 wt%Si steel using a continuous heating three‐point bending method. The method effectively determines the characteristic recrystallization temperatures. Interestingly, these recrystallization characteristic temperatures remain unaffected by the initial load but shift toward higher temperatures with increasing heating rates in the range of 5–15 °C min−1. The average activation energy of recrystallization is estimated to be 144.5 kJ mol−1, comparable to the value of 147.0 kJ mol−1 obtained from the isothermal process through microhardness measurement. The recrystallization kinetics, described by an extended version of the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall model, exhibits excellent agreement with experimental evaluations. By combining the present processing technologies with continuous heating recrystallization kinetics, different recrystallization temperatures and times can be determined, offering valuable insights for optimizing annealing processes. A new analysis method based on the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall model is introduced to accurately describe the nonisothermal recrystallization kinetics, showing excellent agreement with the experimental measurements. The experimental results enable direct prediction of the recrystallization fraction during the continuous heating process, providing valuable insights for the design and optimization of continuous annealing processing parameters.