Effects of segregated sulfur on recrystallization texture and magnetic induction in thin-gauged 3% silicon steel

During final annealing at 1200°C under a high vacuum, changes in recrystallization texture with final annealing time were observed in thin-gauged 3% Si-Fe alloys. In the alloy containing 30 ppm bulk sulfur, the recrystallization texture varied from the {111} ⟨uvw⟩ to the {001} ⟨uvw⟩ and finally to the {110}⟨001⟩ Goss texture, resulting in higher magnetic induction than 1.90 T. The trough in magnetic induction, which corresponds to the relatively high surface-segregated sulfur range, is due to the magnetically detrimental effect of those textures, i.e. the {111} ⟨uvw⟩ and the {001} ⟨uvw⟩. In the alloy containing 6 ppm bulk sulfur, the correlation between magnetic induction and surface-segregated sulfur was the same as that in the other alloy. These results clearly indicate that the surface energy induced recrystallization in the thin-gauged 3% Si-Fe alloys is strongly affected by the segregation and the evaporation of sulfur