Investigation on Microstructure, Texture and Tensile Properties of Hot Rolled Strip Casting Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel

An Fe-3wt% Si as-cast strip was produced by twin-roll strip casting process. The as-cast strip was hot rolled at 1150°C by one pass of 20% reduction and coiled at 550°C. The tensile test was carried out and the elongation was measured. The microstructure and texture of the coiled strip and the fracture surface morphology of the tensile samples were characterized. It is found that the microstructure of the as-cast strip was characterized by columnar ferrite grains with pronounced {001} fiber texture and martensite. The microstructure of coiled strip consisted of ferrite grains and pearlite, and the texture was mainly characterized by {001} fiber texture. The necking was absent during the tensile test and the elongation of coiled strip was as low as 12%. The fracture surfaces of the tensile samples mainly exhibited cleavage fracture mode with coarse cleavage facets and some ligaments.