Experimental and computer model investigations of microtexture evolution of non-oriented silicon steel

Abstract

The authors have performed a systematic set of experiments and corresponding computer simulations to investigate the microtexture evolution of non-oriented silicon steels. The experiments show that similar behaviour is observed during annealing at 800 and 900°C, grain growth occurs and the 〈110〉 fibre microtexture volume fraction decreases rapidly. The authors have imported the microstructures and grain orientations directly from the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system into a Monte Carlo Potts model and used these to simulate the grain growth of the system. These simulations show that neither the residual size distributions of different microtexture fibres nor the presence of highly mobile high energy boundaries are responsible for the grain growth and 〈110〉 fibre microtexture decrease.