The effect of intermediate annealing between cold rolled steps on crystallographic texture and magnetic properties of Fe–2.6% Si

Abstract The crystallographic textures and magnetic properties of Fe–2.6 wt% Si after two different cold rolling and thermal treatment processes were investigated. The first set of samples was 90% cold rolled and annealed for 20 min at 600 °C, 700 °C, 900 °C and 1100 °C, while the second set was cold rolled for 75% and 60% with intermediate annealing at 600 °C for 60 min. Samples were analyzed by neutron diffraction and magnetic measurements. By means of the one and two stage cold rolling processes important cube (0 0 1)[1 0 0] and Goss components {1 1 0}〈0 0 1〉 were produced. Magnetic properties obtained through the two stage process were better than the properties found with the one stage process due to a higher fraction of the cube and Goss components in the material after the two stage process. An increase of grain sizes does not lead to better magnetic properties.