ABSTRACT
The optimization of magnetic and physical properties of electrical steel is imperative for many engineering applications. The key factors to improve magnetic properties are the steel composition as well as control of the crystallographic orientation and microstructure of the steel during processing. However, this requires careful control of processing at all stages of production. Under certain conditions of deformation and annealing, electrical steel can be produced to have favourable texture components. For grain-oriented (GO) electrical steels that are used in most transformer cores, a pronounced {110} <001> Goss texture plays a vital role to achieve low power losses and high permeability. Essentially, Goss texture develops during secondary re-crystallization in GO electrical steels; however, the mechanism of the abnormal Goss grain growth is still disputed in the literature. In the current study, the influence of the annealing conditions on the development of annealing, cold rolling and re-crystallization textures of hot-rolled GO electrical steel were investigated in detail following each processing step. Furthermore, the orientation data from electron backscatter diffraction were used to evaluate the orientation-dependent stored energy of deformed grains after hot rolling. In the light of new findings in the present study, annealing and deformation texture development mechanisms were critically reviewed.
Subject(s)
Alloys/chemistry , Steel/chemistry , Alloys/analysis , Crystallization , Hot Temperature , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Microscopy, Electron , Steel/analysis , Surface Properties , TemperatureABSTRACT
The gas atmosphere in continuous annealing and galvanizing lines alters both composition and microstructure of the surface and sub-surface of sheet steels. The alloying element enrichments and the oxide morphology on transformation-induced plasticity steel surfaces are strongly influenced by the dew point of the furnace atmosphere and annealing temperature. The formation of a thin oxide film and enrichment of the alloying elements during annealing may result in surface defects on galvanized sheet products. The present contribution reports on the use of microanalysis techniques such as electron backscatter diffraction, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy and electron probe micro-analysis for the detailed surface analysis of inter-critically annealed transformation-induced plasticity steel such as oxide phase determination, microstructure and microtexture evolutions.
Subject(s)
Alloys/chemistry , Ferric Compounds/analysis , Microscopy, Electron/instrumentation , Oxides/chemistry , Steel/chemistry , Microscopy, Electron/methods , Oxidation-Reduction , Spectrum AnalysisABSTRACT
Thin films of the superconductive oxide YBa2Cu3O7-x have been made by electron-beam coevaporation of the metals in an oxygen atmosphere onto single-crystal [001]-oriented SrTiO3 and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates. The oxide films were superconducting in the as-deposited state (Tc = 81-83K, Jc = 10(6) A/cm2 at 4.2K). Bright-field imaging, selected-area diffraction (SAD), and high-resolution imaging in the transmission electron microscope were used to characterize the microstructure of these films. All of the films were polycrystalline. On SrTiO3 the films were oriented, for the most part, with [110] parallel to the substrate surface. On YSZ, two microstructures were observed: one with smaller rectangular grains oriented with (100) or (010) parallel to the substrate surface and the other with (001) parallel to the surface (i.e., c-axis up).