Characterization of global and local textures in hot rolled CGO Fe3%Si

The present work is an attempt to understand the recrystallisation mechanisms in Fe-3% Si alloys used in transformer cores. After secondary recrystallisation silicon steels exhibit a Goss texture with a more or less important spread depending on the details of the processing route, namely, Conventional Grain Orientation CGO or High Permeability Hi-B. The mechanisms of Goss grain formation during hot rolling and primary recrystallisation, as well as those controlling the first steps of abnormal growth, are not yet well understood. The present work mainly deals with texture characterization of the hot rolled state. Surface, quarter and half thickness samples are prepared from hot-rolled sheet. Global and local textures are characterized by neutron diffraction and electron backscattered diffraction, respectively. The Orientation Distribution Functions and the volume fraction of the different texture components are calculated. The components from global texture measurements are (001)[1-10], (112)[1-10] (α fiber ), (011)[100] (Goss) and (111)[1-21] (111) [1-10](γ fiber). EBSD measurements have shown large variations of texture from the surface to the half thickness of the sheet. These local measurements are related to the global results by rotation about the transverse direction. Moreover, the grain size appears to be inhomogeneous.