Evolution of recrystallization microstructure and texture during rapid annealing in strip-cast non-oriented electrical steels

Non-oriented electrical steel as-cast strip was produced by twin roll strip casting process, and subsequently cold rolled and annealed at heating rates in the range of 3–450°C/s with the aim to elucidate the effect of heating rate on the evolution of recrystallized microstructure and texture. The average grain size was rapidly increased when the heating rate was increased from 3 to 25°C/s, and decreased when the heating rate was greater than 25°C/s. The average grain size did not increase linearly with heating rate, which was related to different degree of nucleation and growth rate. The recrystallization texture exhibited pronounced improvement during rapid annealing. At high heating rate, the Goss and Cube had a higher probability of nucleation of shear bands with high stored energy, while the intensity of the γ-fiber texture was significantly reduced. The highest B50 value attained was 1.803T at a heating rate of 300°C/s. The study indicates that rapid heating has strong effect on the recrystallization behavior in non-oriented electrical steels, which facilitates optimization of microstructure and texture, especially in the coarse-grained structure. •The effects of heating rate on the microstructure and texture of non-oriented steel were investigated.•The average grain size did not change monotonically with heating rate.•Recrystallization texture exhibited pronounced improvement in the as-cast strip.•Superior magnetic properties were obtained in twin-rolled strip casting process.