Development of Through-Thickness Cube Recrystallization Texture in Non-oriented Electrical Steels by Optimizing Nucleation Environment

Texture evolution of 2.1 wt pct Si non-oriented electrical steel sheets was investigated using macro- and micro-texture analysis. The desirable cube ({001}〈100〉) component successfully dominates the recrystallization texture through sheet thickness. The nucleation sites of cube grains are mainly identified at the interfaces of {001}〈230〉-{001}〈130〉 and {223}〈362〉-{114}〈481〉 oriented deformation bands. The formation of through-thickness cube recrystallization texture can be attributed to the optimization of nucleation environment, featuring quantitative advantage of cube nuclei at both strong plane strain and strong shear strain layers under the superiority of locally low density of cube nuclei.