Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Effect of hot rolling reduction on microstructure, texture and ductility

of strip-cast grain-oriented silicon steel with different
solidification structures
Hong-Yu Song, Hai-Tao Liu n, Hui-Hu Lu, Hao-Ze Li, Wen-Qiang Liu, Xiao-Ming Zhang,
Guo-Dong Wang
State Key Laboratory of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Grain-oriented silicon steel as-cast strips with the average ferrite grain sizes of 161 μm and 367 μm were
Received 23 October 2013 produced by twin-roll strip casting. Then the as-cast strips were reheated and hot rolled with different
Received in revised form reductions of 5–50%. The microstructure and texture evolution were investigated by optical microscopy,
11 March 2014
X-ray diffraction, and electron backscattered diffraction methods. The elongations of the hot rolled strips
Accepted 13 March 2014
Available online 20 March 2014
were examined by the tensile tests and the fracture surfaces were observed by scanning electron microscope.
It was found that the microstructure of both as-cast strips consisted of ferrite and martensite. The micro-
Keywords: structure of all the hot rolled strips was composed of ferrite and pearlite and it was gradually refined with
Strip casting increasing hot rolling reduction in spite of different initial solidification structures. The hot rolled fine-
Grain-oriented silicon steel
grained strips showed much finer microstructure at the same hot rolling reduction and thus gave rise to
Hot rolling reduction
higher elongations. A total reduction of more than 30% was required for the fine-grained strips to achieve
Microstructure
Texture relatively good ductility, while that for the coarse-grained strips was as high as 50%. With increasing hot
rolling reduction, α and γ fibre textures were gradually enhanced at the expense of initial {001}〈0vw〉 fibre
texture in all the hot rolled strips. Relatively strong Goss texture only evolved in the 50% hot rolled strips in
spite of the different initial solidification structures, though the 50% hot rolled coarse-grained strip showed
much stronger Goss texture.
& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction researches on the strip-cast grain-oriented silicon steels have been

rarely reported.
Grain-oriented silicon steel is an important soft magnetic mate- It is known that Goss texture originates in the hot rolling stage
rial widely used as the core material in electrical transformers [1,2]. due to the shear deformation caused by high friction between the
It is characterized by a sharp {110}〈001〉 preferred crystallographic rolls and strip surfaces [12–15]. The inheritance of Goss texture
orientation referred to as Goss texture [3]. Although the manufac- has a significant influence on the nucleation of {110}〈001〉 second-
turing process has been well developed since Goss first proposed the ary grains by way of structure memory [14] even after the cycle of
technological approach in 1934 [4], the conventional process is still normalization, cold rolling and subsequent annealing. In the
complicated and interminable [5]. The recent progress in strip conventional process, the thick slabs are continuously hot rolled
casting technology provides a possibility to produce grain-oriented in many passes with a total reduction exceeding 95%, and hence an
silicon steel by a simpler processing than the conventional process amount of Goss orientation originates due to the severe shear
[6,7] because strip casting can eliminate the thick slab casting and deformation [14,15]. Besides, because of the heavy reduction the
reduce hot rolling passes by supplying as-cast strips with thickness ductility of the hot rolled strips is greatly improved by refining
close to the conventional hot rolled sheets [8–11]. The strip casting the initial coarse solidification structure, which is suitable for the
steels are currently of considerable fundamental and technological subsequent normalization and cold rolling. As for the strip casting
interests worldwide by the researchers due to the superiorities process, thin strips are produced by direct casting from the steel
of strip casting over the conventional processing. However, the melt with the high cooling rate of 102–104 K/s [16]. Liu et al. found
that fully fine equiaxed and fully coarse columnar as-cast strips
could be correspondingly obtained in ferritic steels by altering the
superheat in the melt pool [17,18], and the former exhibited nearly
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 86 24 83687220; fax: þ 86 24 23906472. random texture, while the latter showed strong {001} texture,
E-mail address: [email protected] (H.-T. Liu). which is significantly different from that of conventional hot rolled

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2014.03.052
0921-5093/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269 261

strip. Although the fine-grained or coarse-grained as-cast strips radiation in the back reflection mode [22] in a Bruker D8 Discover
may suffer a little deformation during strip casting, the initial X-ray diffraction. From the pole figures the orientation distribution
microstructure is composed of brittle solidification structure function (ODF) was calculated at different thickness layers by the
which is hard to be cold rolled. Therefore, it is essential to perform series expansion method (Lmax ¼ 22) [23]. The specimens of the as-
one or two passes hot-rolling after the strip casting so as to cast strips and hot rolled strips used for texture measurements were
improve the ductility and modify the initial texture of the grain- prepared with the size of 22 mm (L)  20 mm (W). The position
oriented silicon steel as-cast strips. However, given that the along the thickness direction can be defined by a parameter s, as
thickness of the as-cast strip is close to that of the final hot rolled s¼2a/d, where a and d are the distance away from the center layer
strip, the total hot rolling reduction is very limited and the effects and the strip thickness, respectively. The orientation image maps
of hot rolling reduction on microstructure, texture evolution and along the longitudinal section (RD–ND) of the hot rolled strips were
ductility have not been clarified. Furthermore, the effects of the determined by the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system
initial solidification structure and texture on the microstructure, equipped at a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM).
texture evolution and ductility of the hot rolled strips have also The tensile tests were conducted at room temperature on a SANS
not yet been reported. computer controlled universal testing machine. The fracture surfaces
In the present work, the as-cast strips with different initial were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM).
solidification structures and textures were produced by twin-roll
strip casting and followed by hot rolling. The aim of this paper is to
investigate the effects of the initial solidification structure, texture 3. Results
and hot rolling reduction on the microstructure, texture evolution
and ductility of the hot rolled strips. This is an important part of 3.1. Microstructure and texture of the as-cast strips
the effort to produce the high-quality grain-oriented silicon steel
by applying strip casting technology. Figs. 1 and 2 show the microstructure and texture of the fine-
grained and coarse-grained as-cast strips, respectively. The micro-
structure of both as-cast strips consisted of ferrite matrix and
2. Experimental martensite. The ferrite matrix in the fine-grained as-cast strip was
characterized by outer columnar grains and inner equiaxed grains,
Strip casting was carried out on a vertical type twin-roll caster, as shown in Fig. 1(a). It was measured that the average ferrite grain
as described in detail earlier by Liu et al. [17–21]. The melt size was 161 μm. The texture of the fine-grained as-cast strip was
superheats in the pool were controlled to be 25 1C and 60 1C in characterized by medium {001}〈0vw〉 fibre texture in the outer
order to produce the fine-grained and coarse-grained as-cast layers s¼0.7–1.0 and nearly random texture in the inner layers, as
strips, respectively. The 3.1 mm thick as-cast strips were fabri- shown in Fig. 1(b).
cated, yielding the following chemical composition (mass%): 2.9– By contrast, the microstructure of the coarse-grained as-cast
3.2 Si, 0.16–0.20 Mn, 0.013–0.017 S, 0.055–0.060 C, 0.01–0.013 P, strip was characterized by large columnar ferrite grains with the
and Fe (balance). Both as-cast strips were reheated to 1150 1C and average size of 367 μm and martensite, as shown in Fig. 2(a). The
hot rolled with different rolling schedules in which some strips texture was mainly characterized by strong {001}〈0vw〉 fibre texture
were hot rolled in one pass with a reduction of 5%, 20% and 30%, through the whole thickness.
correspondingly, while the others in two passes with a total
reduction of 50%. All the hot rolled strips were air-cooled to 3.2. Microstructure and texture of the hot rolled strips
550 1C, held for 90 min and then air-cooled to room temperature.
Metallographic specimens of the as-cast strips and hot rolled Fig. 3 shows the microstructure of the hot rolled fine-grained
strips were machined, polished and etched with 4% nital. The micro- and coarse-grained strips. Although the microstructure of all the
structure along the longitudinal section (RD–ND) was observed by hot rolled strips was composed of deformed ferrite grains, proeu-
optical microscope (OM). The average ferrite grain size of the as-cast tectoid ferrite grains and pearlite, the hot rolling reduction had a
strips was measured using the line intercept method based on low significant influence on the microstructure evolution. The micro-
magnification micrographs. The texture was quantitatively exam- structure of both 5% hot rolled strips was quite similar to their
ined by measuring three incomplete pole figures {110}, {200} and initial solidification microstructure, as shown in Fig. 3(a1) and
{211} in the range of the polar angle α from 01 to 701 with CoKα1 (b1). As the hot rolling reduction increased from 20% to 50%, the

Fig. 1. Microstructure (a) and texture (b) of the fine-grained as-cast strip.
262 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269

Fig. 2. Microstructure (a) and texture (b) of the coarse-grained as-cast strip.

Fig. 3. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the microstructure of the as-cast strips with different initial solidification structures ((a) fine-grained as-cast strip; (b) coarse-grained
as-cast strip; 1, 2, 3 and 4 were referred to as 5%, 20%, 30% and 50% reductions, respectively).
 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269 263

Fig. 4. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the texture of the as-cast strips with different initial solidification structures ((a) fine-grained as-cast strip; (b) coarse-grained as-cast
strip; 1, 2, 3 and 4 were referred to as 5%, 20%, 30% and 50% reductions, respectively).
264 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269

as-cast strips were severely deformed and thus the initial solidi- the hot rolling reduction was 30–50%, the difference between the
fication structures were further refined. When the hot rolling elongations of the hot rolled fine-grained and coarse-grained
reduction was 50%, the deformed ferrite grains were obviously strips was significant. A total reduction of more than 30% was
elongated and deviated from the rolling direction due to the required for the fine-grained strips to achieve relatively good
severe deformation, as shown in Fig. 3(a4) and (b4). It was found ductility (elongation exceeding 20%), while that for the coarse-
that the hot rolled fine-grained strips showed much finer micro- grained strips was as high as 50%.
structures than those of the hot rolled coarse-grained strips at the Fig. 6 shows the effect of hot rolling reduction on the fracture
same hot rolling reduction. Besides, the ferrite grain size was more morphology of the hot rolled strips. The fracture modes of all the
homogeneous in the hot rolled fine-grained strips than that of the hot rolled strips were gradually transformed from brittle fracture
hot rolled coarse-grained strips. to ductile fracture with increasing hot rolling reduction in spite of
Fig. 4 shows the effect of hot rolling reduction on the through- different initial solidification structures. The fracture surfaces of
thickness texture of the hot rolled strips. The texture exhibited both 5% hot rolled fine-grained and coarse-grained strips dis-
obvious variations with increasing hot rolling reduction in spite of played complete cleavage fracture with large cleavage facets, as
the different initial solidification structures. The texture of both 5% shown in Fig. 6(a1) and (b1). As the hot rolling reduction increased
hot rolled fine-grained and coarse-grained strips was quite similar from 20% to 50%, the amount of ductile fracture bands and dimples
to their initial solidification texture, as shown in Fig. 4(a1) and increased, which indicated the improvement of the ductility in all
(b1). As the hot rolling reduction increased from 20% to 30%, the hot rolled strips. The fracture mode of the hot rolled fine-
medium {001}〈0vw〉 fibre texture evolved throughout the thick- grained strips was transformed into ductile fracture at a total
ness and weak α and γ fibre textures evolved in the center layers of reduction of more than 30%, while that for the coarse-grained
all the hot rolled strips. When the hot rolling was 50%, the texture strips was as high as 50%. Considering the results shown in Figs. 5
of both the hot rolled fine-grained and coarse-grained strips was and 6, it should be noted that the variation of the elongation with
characterized by medium {001}〈0vw〉 fibre texture and Goss increasing hot rolling reduction was in good agreement with that
texture in the surface layers and α and γ fibre textures in the of the fracture morphology.
center layers. It was found that the hot rolled coarse-grained strips
showed stronger α and γ fibre textures than that of the hot rolled
fine-grained strips at the same hot rolling reduction. Besides, 4. Discussion
strong Goss texture with the maximum intensity of 3.42 times of
random distribution evolved in the layers s¼0.5–1.0 of the 50% hot 4.1. Microstructure and texture evolution of the as-cast strips
rolled coarse-grained strip, while relatively weaker Goss texture
formed in the layers s ¼0.5–0.8 of the 50% hot rolled fine-grained Liu et al. confirmed that the melt superheat in the pool can
strips. affect the temperature gradient in front of the solid phase during
strip casting [17,18]. So the melt superheat was the most impor-
tant factor to determine the solidification structure. When the
3.3. Room temperature ductility of the hot rolled strips melt superheat was relatively low, such as 25 1C in this work, the
temperature gradient in front of the solid phase could satisfy the
In the present work, the break elongation measured by the selective growth mechanism for some {001} columnar δ-ferrite
tensile tests was used to evaluate the ductility of the hot rolled grains at the early stage of solidification. The columnar ferrite
strips. Fig. 5 shows the effect of hot rolling reduction on the grains in the fine-grained as-cast strip were observed at the
elongations of the hot rolled strips. The elongations were gradually surface layers s ¼0.7–1.0 as shown in Fig. 1(a). As columnar δ-
improved with increasing hot rolling reduction in spite of different ferrite grains grew up, the temperature gradient decreased and the
initial solidification structures. The hot rolled fine-grained strips selective growth effect vanished at the end of solidification, thus
showed relatively higher elongation than that of the hot rolled gave rise to the formation of the equiaxed δ-ferrite grains in the
coarse-grained strips at the same hot rolling reduction. At the hot inner layers. By contrast, when the melt superheat was as high as
rolling reduction of 5–20%, the elongations of the hot rolled fine- 60 1C, a high temperature gradient could be provided in front of
grained and coarse-grained strips were almost the same. When the {001} dendrites tips even at the last stage of solidification and
thus led to the well-developed columnar structure, as shown in
Fig. 2(a).
During the air-cooling stage after solidification, a certain
amount of δ-ferrite transformed into austenite and subsequently
transformed into martensite due to the relatively high cooling rate.
It is known that the austenite may obey the Kurdjumov–Sachs
(K–S) relationship with respect to the parent ferrite during δ-γ
transformation [24,25], and the lath martensite obeys the Kurdju-
mov–Sachs (K–S) or Nishiyama–Wasserman (N–W) orientation
relationship with parent austenite during martensite transforma-
tion [26,27]. However, in the present work, the volume fraction of
martensite in the fine-grained and coarse-grained as-cast strips
was only about 3% and 8% respectively due to the very limited
δ-γ transformation. Consequently, the transformation type tex-
ture was negligible in the as-cast strips and the texture was mainly
characterized by the orientations of the initial solidification δ-
ferrite. As a result, considering the solidification structure through
the thickness (Fig. 1(a)), it could be inferred that the {001}〈0vw〉
fibre texture in the outer layers and the nearly random texture in
Fig. 5. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the elongation of the hot rolled strips with the center layers (Fig. 1(b)) were mainly attributed to the forma-
different initial solidification structures. tion of outer columnar δ-ferrite grains and inner equiaxed δ-ferrite
 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269 265

Fig. 6. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the fracture morphology of the hot rolled strips with different initial solidification structures ((a) fine-grained as-cast strip; (b)
coarse-grained as-cast strip; 1, 2, 3 and 4 were referred to as 5%, 20%, 30% and 50% reductions, respectively).

grains, respectively. Similarly, the strong {001}〈0vw〉 fibre texture 4.2. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the microstructure evolution
through the whole thickness of the coarse-grained as-cast strip
(Fig. 2(b)) was attributed to the formation of coarse columnar δ- Fig. 7 shows the typical microstructure of the 20% hot rolled
ferrite grains (Fig. 2(a)). coarse-grained strip. According to the calculated phase diagram,
266 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269

when the as-cast strips were reheated to 1150 1C, the microstruc- fine-grained strips was much finer at the same hot rolling reduc-
ture was composed of about 66.5% (volume fraction) ferrite and tion due to the relatively finer initial solidification structure. It is
33.5% austenite. During the air-cooling stage after hot rolling, known that the fine-grained steels exhibited superior compatible
partial austenite was transformed into proeutectoid ferrite when deformation capability due to the small differences between the
the temperature was below A3 temperature and subsequently the deformation in the vicinity of the boundaries and the interior of
rest of austenite was transformed into pearlite when the tempera- the grains [30,31]. Consequently, the deformation in the grains of
ture was below A1 temperature. fine-grained strips was more uniform, thus gave rise to more
Fig. 8 shows the grain boundary misorientation distribution of homogeneous microstructure, as shown in Fig. 3.
the 20% hot rolled strips. The large ferrite grains were surrounded
by high-angle boundaries, while extensive low-angle boundaries 4.3. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the texture evolution
were observed inside these grains. It is known that the ferrite in
silicon steel has high stacking fault energy and it mainly under- The texture of the hot rolled strips was mainly characterized by
goes dynamic recovery during hot rolling [28,29]. As a result, the orientations of the deformed ferrite grains due to the limited
the large elongated ferrite grains were formed by rapid dynamic γ-αþP transformation. Figs. 9–11 show the effect of hot rolling
recovery. It was observed that the small ferrite grains formed in reduction on λ, α and γ fibre textures in the center layer of the hot
the large ferrite grains were surrounded by high-angle boundaries, rolled strips with different initial solidification structures, corre-
free of low-angle boundaries and co-existed with the pearlite, as spondingly. It was found that both 20% hot rolled fine-grained and
shown in Fig. 7. Thus, it could be inferred that the small ferrite coarse-grained strips showed the strongest {001}〈100〉 component
grains were not recrystallized grains but proeutectoid ferrite and very weak α and γ fibre textures. As the hot rolling reduction
grains by γ-αþP transformation during the cooling stage after increased from 20% to 50%, the intensity of {001}〈100〉 component
hot rolling. decreased, while those of α and γ fibre textures greatly increased.
The average ferrite grain size of the fine-grained as-cast strip It is known that the plane strain dominates in the center layer of
was 161 μm, while that of the coarse-grained as-cast strip was as the sheet and the plane strain increases with increasing hot rolling
large as 367 μm. As a result, the microstructure of the hot rolled reduction [7]. Consequently, the plane strain compression textures
(α and γ fibre textures) [3] were gradually enhanced at the expense
of the initial solidification texture ({001}〈100〉 component) in the
center layer, as shown in Figs. 9–11, and the intensity variation of
λ, α and γ fibre textures was in good agreement with increasing hot
rolling reduction. The hot rolled coarse-grained strips exhibited
relatively stronger λ, α and γ fibre textures at the same hot rolling
reduction, which was mainly related with the initial stronger
solidification texture, as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 12 shows the through-thickness variation of Goss texture
intensity in hot rolled strips. It was found that, when the hot
rolling reduction was 5–30%, Goss texture was very weak. At the
hot rolling reduction of 50%, Goss texture was greatly enhanced in
both hot rolled strips, though relatively stronger Goss texture was
observed in the hot rolled coarse-grained strip. It is known that
Goss texture is formed by shear deformation under high frictional
force between the roll and hot rolled sheet surface [32], and the
Fig. 7. High magnification microstructure of the 20% hot rolled coarse-grained shear deformation increases with rolling reduction [33–35]. When
strip. the hot rolling reduction was 5–30%, the shear deformation was

Fig. 8. Grain boundary misorientation distribution of the 20% hot rolled strip with initial (a) fine-grained and (b) coarse-grained solidification structures.
 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269 267

Fig. 9. Effect of hot rolling reduction on orientation intensities along λ fibre in the center layer of the hot rolled strips with initial (a) fine-grained and (b) coarse-grained
solidification structures.

Fig. 10. Effect of hot rolling reduction on orientation intensities along α fibre in the center layer of the hot rolled strips with initial (a) fine-grained and (b) coarse-grained
solidification structures.

Fig. 11. Effect of hot rolling reduction on orientation intensities along γ fibre in the center layer of the hot rolled strips with initial (a) fine-grained and (b) coarse-grained
solidification structure.
268 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269

quite weak, thus gave rise to very weak Goss texture. At the
hot rolling reduction of 50%, severe shear deformation evolved in
the strips and led to strong Goss texture. It is known that the
coarse-grained as-cast strip exhibits relatively inferior compatible
deformation capability. It means that the plastic strain between
neighboring grains may not be readily accommodated by homo-
geneous deformation and, thus, nonhomogeneous deformation
(shear deformation) may be triggered to achieve the macro-strain
compatibility. Consequently, much severe shear deformation may
evolve in the hot rolled coarse-grained strip and, thus, leads to
stronger Goss texture, as shown in Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows the
orientation image map and Goss orientation of the 50% hot rolled
strips. Strong Goss texture evolved in the large deformed ferrite
grains in the layers s ¼0.5–1.0 of the hot rolled coarse-grained
strip, while relatively weak Goss texture formed in the hot rolled
fine-grained strip. Interesting to note that the Goss texture in both
Fig. 12. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the intensity of Goss texture in the hot
rolled strips with different initial solidification structures (fine–fine grained 50% hot rolled strips showed a few obvious peaks, as shown
structure, coarse–coarse grained structure). in Fig. 12. This may be mainly related with the especial rolling

Fig. 13. Orientation image maps of all orientations (a) and Goss orientation (b) of the 50% hot rolled fine-grained strip and orientation image map of all orientations (c) and
Goss orientation (d) of the 50% hot rolled coarse-grained strip.
 H.-Y. Song et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 605 (2014) 260–269 269

process, i.e. two passes, which led to a shear deformation distribu- rolled coarse-grained strip showed much stronger Goss tex-
tion through thickness unlike single-pass hot rolling. However, ture than the 50% hot rolled fine-grained strip.
more attention should be paid to this interesting phenomenon.

4.4. Effect of hot rolling reduction on the room temperature ductility

Acknowledgments
It is known that the ductility of the steel within the traditional
grain size regime can be improved by refining grains due to the This work was supported by the National Natural Science
improvement of the compatible deformation capability [36]. In the Foundation of China (Grant nos. 50734001, 51004035, 51374002,
present work, the microstructures of the hot rolled strips were 51074051, U1260204), the National Key Technology R&D Program
gradually refined and became more homogeneous with increasing (Grant no. 2012BAE03B00), the National High Technology R&D
hot rolling reduction. Thus, the elongations were gradually “863” Program (Grant no. 2012AA03A506) and the Fundamental
improved, as shown in Fig. 5. And, it was observed that the Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant no.
number of ductile dimples and ductile fracture bands increased, N120407009).
which indicated the gradual improvement of the ductility. How-
ever, the hot rolled fine-grained strips exhibited relatively finer
microstructures at the same reduction due to finer initial solidi- References
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