Fine-grained and cube-textured Si-steel sheet coil by oxide-separator-induced decarburization

A semi-industrial-scale production route for fine-grained and cube-textured 3% Si-1% Mn steel sheet is introduced. A hot-rolled band about 3-mm thick is subjected to a conventional two-stage cold rolling with an intermediate annealing, resulting in a coil form of the sheet 250-mm wide, 0.35-mm thick, and about 100-m long. The coil is rewound with ceramic fiber paper being inserted alternately. This tight coil is decarburized under a vacuum to develop the {100}<001> cube texture. The magnetization at 1000 A/m, B₁₀, exceeds 1.85 T for both rolling and transverse directions. The difference of the magnetic properties between the top and the bottom position of the coil is negligible, so that the process is proved to be capable of producing a substantial amount of doubly oriented electrical steel sheets.